The purpose of the research is to examine the perceptions of educators in the disaster area regarding the positive and negative aspects of distance education and their views on how the process is experienced in the field of education, in the Kahramanmaras-centered earthquake that occurred in 11 provinces of Turkey in February 2023. After determining the basic research questions for the purpose of the research, a case study design was adopted with a qualitative approach in order to obtain the expert opinions and suggestions of educators providing distance education in the disaster area during the data collection phase. The educators were interviewed using Google Forms, and they were asked to answer the semi-structured open-ended questions directed to them. The answers given by the educators were subjected to content analysis. Some of the themes obtained in this direction can be listed as follows: dynamic and updated education process, raising awareness of the people living in the region, a potential to benefit from lifelong learning, and access to true and reliable information resources.
TopIntroduction
The 7.5 and 7.8 magnitude Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes occurred on the East Anatolian Fault Line in Turkey on February 6, 2023. The devastating earthquakes caused loss of many lives and damages, mainly across 11 cities of Turkey and Syria, and the earthquakes were felt in a wide area including Lebanon, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Iran, and Egypt. Aftershocks of the earthquakes continued for months. The 6.4 and 5.8 magnitude Hatay-centered earthquakes occurred on February 20, 2023, and then, the 5.6 magnitude Adana-centered earthquake occurred on July 25, 2023.
The 2023 earthquakes occurred on the East Anatolian Fault (EAF), which is a major tectonic structure in the eastern Mediterranean, separating the Arabian and Anatolian tectonic plates along a boundary that spans nearly 600 km. Together with the North Anatolian Fault (NAF), the EAF enables the Anatolian plate (most of mainland Türkiye) to escape westward at about 20 mm yr–1 from the collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates in eastern Türkiye. This long-term motion of Anatolia is facilitated by repeated earthquakes along the North and East Anatolian Faults.
We are living in a highly complex-dynamic system that is in a vast complex-dynamic system, the Universe, as part of a complex-dynamic system at micro and macro scales. Here, the term “dynamic” refers to difference and repetition (Deleuze, 1994), i.e., becoming instead of being in a constant and unchanged state, and “complex” does not necessarily mean complicated (Hagen-Zanker, 2008), but refers to a non-linear system concept that a reductionist approach falls short to understand the system in its entirety, not only the elements or processes studied, but also the relationships, and a holistic approach is needed (Khorram-Manesh, 2016; Turner & Baker, 2019).
Unfortunately, one of the main areas affected by the earthquake was education. Due to the magnitude and effect of the earthquake across the country, the Higher Education Council announced that it was decided that it would be appropriate to complete the 2022-2023 academic year spring semester through distance education in the whole country. Distance education determines using the internet to access learning material, communicate with the instructor and other students in the learning process, and improve the experience (Ally, 2004). Today, distance education takes place mainly as web-based learning and mobile learning. Distance education is one of the most practical ways to provide equal education opportunities when suitable place, time, and conditions are not possible (Uzun et al., 2020). In the post-earthquake period in Türkiye, distance education was implemented, as in the pandemic period, during the holidays so that students can continue their education (Telli & Altun, 2021). However, a disaster environment such as an earthquake has many factors hindering education. Due to many factors, such as infrastructure problems, the psychological and socioeconomic status of students, technical, institutional, and political actions should be taken together for the distance education process to succeed (Pregowska, et al., 2021; Tanik Onal & Onal, 2023).
Since the reflection of the results of the earthquake affects the whole society, the possible problems that the students, who are not directly affected by the earthquake, may encounter, as well as the students who are victims of the earthquake, should be taken into consideration during the distance education process. For example, in the post-earthquake period, psychological conditions such as the fear of a repeat of the earthquake and the fear of losing loved ones can be seen in all students (Yildirim, 2023). For this reason, it is necessary to consider the psychological state of all students in the distance education process. Based on this point, this study aims to reveal what roles distance education should play in times of earthquakes and disasters.