Abstract

The study aimed to determine the associate degree students’ views on the dimensions of personal suitability, effectiveness, teaching, and predisposition towards teaching offered in distance education environments and examine whether their views differed significantly according to gender, class, and vocational school type.

The data of the study were collected from 2061 students studying in vocational schools of a state university located in eastern Turkey. All students in the study population were aimed to be reached; however, 2061 out of 2963 students who participated voluntarily and answered all the questions were included. Among these 2061 students, 1152 were male and 909 were female. When classified according to school type, 1429 participants were studying at vocational schools, 401 at health, 136 at justice, and 95 were studying at tourism. Learners’ Views on Distance Education Scale (LVoDE) was used as the data collection tool. LVODE included 18 items and four factors as personal appropriateness, effectiveness, informativeness and predisposition. The scale was on 5-point Likert rating scale ranging from 1 to 5 indicating 1 (never agree), 2 (rarely agree), 3 (sometimes agree), 4 (usually agree), 5 (always agree). The reliability coefficients of the scale including four sub-dimensions as personal suitability, effectiveness, teaching, and predisposition varied between .81 and .91. The descriptive statistics were used to ascertain the opinions on the sub-dimensions of personal appropriateness, effectiveness, informativeness and predisposition offered to students in distance education environments. A factorial ANOVA test was performed for independent samples to check whether students’ views on teaching offered in distance education settings differed significantly according to gender, grade level, and type of school. According to the research results, it was noticed that the students did not find themselves sufficient for distance education activities in terms of personal convenience and effectiveness and thought that face-to-face education was more effective than distance education. They regarded themselves insufficient in completing their homework and similar tasks given during their online classes by teachers. There was no significant difference in views of the students upon distance education in terms of both gender and grade levels. However, a significant difference was found in their views on distance education according to the types of vocational schools. The opinions of the students studying in health and justice vocational schools were found to be at a more positive level than the ones enrolled in hotel and tourism vocational schools.

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