Investigation of secondary school teachers' views on distance education practises and their technostress levels

In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the relationship between secondary school teachers' attitudes towards distance education and their technostress perception levels. The participants of this study, which was prepared with the mixed research method, consisted of 500 secondary school teachers working in public schools in the central districts of Samsun. Quantitative data on attitudes towards distance education with the scale of "Teachers' Opinions on Distance Education Practices", and quantitative data on technostress perception levels were analyzed using the "Teachers' Technostress Level Determination Scale". In the qualitative part of the study, the data obtained from the semi-structured interviews with 13 participating teachers were analyzed. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), two-way analysis of variance (two-way ANOVA), pearson correlation and regression analyzes were applied to the quantitative data analyzed with the SPSS 22.0 package program. Qualitative data obtained using descriptive and content analysis were analyzed with the NVIVO 12 package program. According to the research findings, it was seen that the participants' attitudes towards distance education and their technostress perception levels were moderate. It was concluded that teachers' attitudes towards distance education differed significantly according to the variables of age, branch and computer use experience, but there was no significant difference according to the variables of gender and educational status. Significantly different results were obtained in the attitudes towards distance education in favor of the 31-40 age group of teachers, the information technologies branch and the users with 10 years or more of computer experience. It was observed that the technostress perception levels of the teachers differed significantly according to the variables of age, branch, computer use experience, but there was no significant difference according to the variables of gender and educational status. It was observed that there were significant differences in the technostress perception levels in favor of the 21-30 age group, the physical education branch and the participants with "1-5" years of computer experience. It has been concluded that there is a significant and negative strong relationship between the attitude towards distance education and the level of technostress perception, and the role of technostress perception on attitudes towards distance education is at a significant level.In the findings obtained in qualitative data; it is stated that verbal branches are more advantageous than digital branches in the distance education process, the efficiency decreases compared to face-to-face education, and their personal performance decreases because of the lack of student participation and limiting the possibility of socialization. Participants state that the fear of catching and adapting to technology is a trigger in the factors that create technostress, and it develops inversely with age and the right computer experience. From the results obtained, it is recommended to provide teachers with technology guidance and support, to improve the infrastructure, to eliminate the inequality of opportunity, to develop appropriate methodologies and to organize in-service trainings on this subject in order to improve the attitudes of teachers towards distance education and reduce the perception of technostress.