Abstract
This chapter covers the examples of applications for the implementation of the “Measurement and Evaluation” course in face-to-face and distance education processes in mathematics education and the prospective mathematics teachers' opinions about these applications. The course took 14 weeks to complete: 6 weeks of face-to-face education and 8 weeks of distance education due to the COVID-19 outbreak. At the end of the semester, the opinions of the prospective mathematics teachers were taken about face-to-face and distance education. Prospective teachers generally stated that they found the course videos useful for understanding the subject, the assignments helped them consolidate the learned subject, and the third assignment in particular was comprehensive and useful. They stated that face-to-face education was advantageous in terms of being able to ask questions and active participation, and distance education was advantageous in terms of being able to watch the course videos again.
TopIntroduction
Education has been at the center of our lives since the existence of humanity and has gone through different stages (Ertürk, 1975). With the rapid development of societies along with industry, the demand for education has increased. As a result of the inadequacy of traditional education and face-to-face education to meet the needs of society, alternative learning methods have been produced in order to find solutions to the problems that arise (Kaya, 1996). Based on this, distance education has taken its place in education with the opportunities provided by information and communication technologies. Distance education is defined as the conduct of educational activities through tools such as computers, televisions, mobile phones, and tablets without physical interaction (Clark, 2020). Valentine (2002) defines distance education as the process of teaching courses and facilitating learning based on the active use of information technologies since the instructors and students are in different places. According to Moore and Kearsley (2011), distance education is a planned teaching and learning activity where communication is provided through technology as well as traditional organization, usually in a different place.
Distance education system can also be used in cases where the education is insufficient or disrupted, such as natural disasters (earthquake, flood, etc.), terrorist incidents, and disease outbreaks. In times of crisis, it is possible to switch to distance education applications for a quick solution (Kahraman, 2020). The Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-2019) outbreak, which was first seen in China in the last month of 2019 and spread all over the world in a short time, is one of these crisis times (Serçemeli & Kurnaz, 2020; Yamamoto & Altun, 2020). This highly contagious virus has spread all over the world, primarily in European countries, in a short time (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020) and has started to be seen in Turkey as of March 11, 2020 (Serçemeli & Kurnaz, 2020). According to the data announced by UNESCO (2020), a total of 1,724,657,870 students in 191 countries around the world have been affected by the outbreak since April 17, 2020. The coronavirus outbreak has caused the disruption of education, at least 91% of students worldwide have taken a break from education, and many countries have introduced distance education as a solution (United Nations [UN], 2020).
Immediately after the first case was seen in Turkey, the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) made a statement regarding the measures to be taken against the coronavirus. As a part of these measures, the distance education started to be offered, albeit for a period of time (Ministry of National Education [MoNE], 2020). Similarly, the Council of Higher Education (CoHE) announced its decisions on distance education by publishing an information note on March 13, 2020 (Council of Higher Education [CoHE], 2020). Following the decision of CoHE, universities decided to conduct the courses synchronously, asynchronously, or mixed (synchronously-asynchronously) within the framework of their infrastructure (Durak et al., 2020). In synchronous learning environment, teachers and students meet for a session (usually online) at a predetermined time (Fidalgo et al., 2020). In this meeting, live video and/or audio streams are used for interaction (Watts, 2016). In an asynchronous learning environment, teacher and student sessions are not simultaneous, students can access the course content over the internet whenever they need and want. The communication between the participants is generally via e-mail and online forums (Watts, 2016). In this study, the “Measurement and Evaluation” course was carried out in an asynchronous learning environment, since there was a sudden transition to distance education. Communication with the prospective teachers was carried out via e-mail and Google classroom.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Measurement and Evaluation Course: A course that is carried out in Education Faculties and includes subjects related to measurement and evaluation in education and training activities.
Face-to-Face Education: Educational activities in which students and teachers are in the same environment at the same time and interact with each other.
Distance Education: Educational activities carried out without physical interaction by means of equipment such as television, computer, tablet, mobile phone.
Negative Opinions: Negative opinions of the prospective teachers about face-to-face and distance education.
Prospective Mathematics Teachers: Prospective teachers studying at the Faculty of Education, Department of Primary Mathematics Education.
COVID-19 Outbreak: It is a large family of viruses that first appeared in the Wuhan Province of China and can cause disease in animals or humans.
Assignments: Assignments given to the prospective teachers to consolidate the subjects learned within the scope of the Measurement and Evaluation course.
Positive Opinions: Positive opinions of the prospective teachers about face-to-face and distance education.