The effect of the distance learning process on the academic success of undergraduate students (Sakarya province example)

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of the distance education process on the academic success of undergraduate students. In this context, it is planned that the study will reveal the effects of distance education programs implemented in state universities in Turkey due to the COVID-19 epidemic on the academic achievement of undergraduate students, and also to put forward ideas to eliminate the negativities of this education. The study population of the research is limited to the distance education programs applied in state universities in Sakarya and undergraduate students studying with the distance education system in the academic years of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. According to this; The working group consists of 500 undergraduate students (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grades) studying at state universities in the 2021-2022 academic year. In order to determine the effect of the distance education process on the academic achievement of undergraduate students, data were collected through a Likert-type questionnaire. Simple random sampling method was used when selecting the sample. In order to reveal the effects of educational materials and technology used in distance education on the academic achievement of undergraduate students at state universities, the data obtained from the questionnaire and personal information form were analyzed with descriptive analysis techniques using the SPSS data analysis program. The results of the study revealed that the educational materials used in distance education provide easy access to information, diversity, content adequacy and equality of opportunity, that distance education positively affects academic achievement by meeting the information needs of students, saves time and contributes to the development of scientific research skills. In addition, the study showed that the technology used in the distance education process is less successful and effective because it is boring, has the ease of cheating, and contributes to poor communication between the student and the teacher.