Determination of instructor roles in online distance education: Delphi technique application

There is a change in the roles of instructors with the digital change and transformation, paradigm shift, 21st century skills, and the effect of the pandemic in distance education. The main objective of this doctoral thesis is to determine the changing instructor roles with the factors that are thought to shape the future of education. The study was designed as an exploratory sequential mixed model including two strands which were both quantitative and qualitative. In the first strand, the role of the instructor was analyzed in terms of the future of education, general education theories, distance education theories, the historical development process on the basis of technologies used in distance education, studies in the literature, learner roles and, on the basis of institutions. In all these titles, qualitative research technique was used as a method. The data analyzed using by descriptive analysis and in this process the expressions under the themes were re-coded according to existed themes in the literature. 7 themes were created based on this. The expressions under the themes created were evaluated by 3 field experts and 1 Turkish language expert. In the second strand, quantitative data were collected through a two-round Delphi technique. This technique has been used in the context of this study, as it is an application consisting of consecutive survey rounds that provide valid and reliable answers on issues that require expert opinion. For the selection of experts, purposeful random sampling method was used. With the participation of 64 experts, a semi-structured form prepared by the researcher was used in the first round within the scope of Delphi technique.In the context of the comments and results from the experts, the second round continued. In the second round, quantitative data were collected with a 5-point Likert scale. 48 out of 64 experts participated in the second round. Responses were evaluated statistically (mean, mode, median, interquartile range). In the study, based on a comprehensive literature review, expert opinions, and findings from the research, the online distance instructor roles consisting of 5 themes and 14 expressions were determined. In this context, it is thought to contribute to the online distance education instructors, institutions and literature by determining the roles of current instructors. Keywords: Distance education, Online education, Instructor roles, Delphi technique