The secondary school students' views on learning experiences of online courses carried out during COVID-19 pandemic

The aim of this research is determining the secondary school students' learning experiences of online courses carried out during Covid-19 pandemic. The participants of the study are the 8th grade students, including 7 girls and 8 boys in total 15 students, studying at a state İmam Hatip secondary school in Antalya city Korkuteli district in 2021-2022 academic year. In the research, phenomenology, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The research data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The data collected via focus group interview method was analyzed through inductive analysis method. According to the analysis secondary school students' experiences in online courses carried out during pandemic are represented under themes. These themes are; in cognitive learning experiences concept learning, practicing and findings on evaluations of their own learning experiences; in affective learning experiences, the conditions of participating in online courses, the reflections of teachers' performances in online course on students and conditions of reflecting their feeling and emotions; in psychomotor learning experiences, experiences towards artistic works, experiences towards physical activity and experiences towards technology usage. According to the results obtained; some negative situations in online courses during pandemic were determined such as unsuitable home environment, insufficiency of technical infrastructure, timetable and time, lack of motivation and seriousness, limited communication possibilities, inability of doing experiments and practices, false use of technology, spending too much time across screen and having health problems due to physical inactivity. As for positive situations; sustaining education online, teachers' efforts to make online courses more enjoyable and effective and students' adaptations of using internet based technologies were determined. Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic, distance education, online course