Investigation of secondary school teachers and students' attitudes, digital competencies and experiences towards emergency remote teaching

The purpose of this study is to determine secondary school teachers' and students' attitudes toward distance education and their digital competencies, to examine the relationship between their attitudes toward distance education and their digital competencies, and to reveal the efficiency of the process by analyzing students' and teachers' perspectives on the lessons taught during the Covid 19 pandemic. The study was conducted by using mixed-method research that included questionnaires and an interview form. Participants of the study consisted of 263 teachers and 689 students from different high schools in Amasya. Quantitative data were collected from teachers with the "Attitude Scale towards Distance Education" and "Digital Competence Scale for Educators", and from students with the "Attitude Scale towards E-learning" and "the Youth Digital Citizenship Scale". Qualitative data were collected from teachers and students with a semi-structured interview form. Interviews were conducted with 10 teachers and 10 students for qualitative data. When the data obtained from the scales are examined, teachers' attitudes towards distance education have been found to be at a moderate level and the competency status of 64.26% of them was at the expert and integrative level. Students' attitudes towards e-learning and their digital citizenship are moderate. Teachers' attitudes towards distance education and their digital competencies do not differ significantly by gender or location of residence. While teachers' attitudes towards distance education according to professional seniority were not significant, their digital competencies were found to be significant. Teachers' attitudes towards distance education and their digital competencies show a significant difference regarding their educational status. While students' attitudes towards e-learning based on gender show a significant difference, their digital citizenship does not show a significant difference. Their attitudes towards e-learning and digital citizenship differ significantly based on their grade level, but there is no significant difference based on their location of residence. There is a significant and positive relationship between teachers' attitudes toward distance education and their digital competencies. Teachers' attitudes towards distance education increase as their digital competencies increase. Moreover, there is a significant and positive relationship between students' attitudes towards e-learning and their digital citizenship. Students with increasing levels of digital citizenship also have increasing attitudes towards e-learning. Teachers' digital competencies predict their attitudes towards distance education and students' digital citizenship significantly predicts their attitudes towards e-learning. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. Four themes emerged as a result of the interviews. These themes are positive aspects, aspects that need to be improved, negative aspects and future use. When the themes were examined, it was determined that teachers and students encountered a wide range of challenges and positive developments in distance education courses. These analyses are expected to shed light on the changes that may occur in education following the epidemic. In order to improve the quality of the courses carried out with distance education, it is aimed to prevent the negativity experienced in secondary education with the recommendations presented in the study in line with the opinions of teachers and students. According to the results obtained from the study, it is recommended to carry out studies that improve the digital competencies of teachers and students toward distance education and encourage positive attitudes.