Most universities worldwide had to temporarily interrupt face-to-face education and start Emergency Distance Education (EDE) due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It is useful to identify the difficulties and problems that universities faced in this process in order that they can carry out a similar process more efficiently in the future. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct an in vivo examination of EDE from the institutional perspective within the scope of universities during the pandemic period in Turkey. To this end, all state university websites were searched according to 27 criteria which were determined to set out the EDE readiness status of universities. The results revealed that higher education institutions had difficulty in providing sufficient pedagogical and technical guidance to academic staff due to the rapid transition. With respect to students, distance course contents, activities and announcements were not equitably accessible for students from foreign countries and those with disabilities owing to the lack of information and communications technology (ICT) tools, internet connection, translation, etc. A remarkable number of higher education institutions preferred the features of distance education tools such as cost, familiarity, stability, availability of technical support, and short preparation time rather than their pedagogical affordances.

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This study compares the effects of object‐oriented and robot programming activities on programming achievement, abstraction, problem solving, and motivation. In the study, two consecutive experimental cases were conducted to examine the consistency of findings. The research sample comprises 81 tenth‐grade students undergoing vocational secondary education. A total of 41 students participated in the first case that spanned 12 weeks, and 40 students participated in the second that spanned 8 weeks. After computational activities, the programming achievement scores significantly increased in all test groups. However, the achievement scores did not differ significantly between the groups. For the comparison groups, there was no statistically significant difference in the pre‐ and posttest scores of the formal and descriptive abstraction in both cases. However, a statistically significant increase was found in the formal (only Case 2) and descriptive abstraction scores of the students in the experimental groups. The abstraction results revealed a significant difference in the descriptive abstraction scores of Case 2 in favour of the experimental group. No statistically significant difference was found in the problem‐solving scores within or between groups. In both cases, the motivation scores of the experimental groups were found to be statistically higher than those of the comparison groups.

The empathic tendency, communication skills, and critical thinking are the professional attitude behaviors that should be in a physiotherapist. The study was planned to investigate the effects of creative drama on empathic tendencies, communication skills and critical thinking of physiotherapy students. This study was carried out in Hasan Kalyoncu University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation between October 2017 and December 2018. 75 freshman physiotherapy students (44 women, 31 men) were included in the study. According to the results obtained from the study; there was no significant difference between empathic tendencies, communication skills and critical thinking skills of individuals in both groups (p> 0.05). When the creative drama group was compared in terms of gender, there was no significant difference between individuals' empathic tendencies, communication skills and critical thinking skills (p> 0.05). Similarly, when the control group was compared in terms of gender, there was no significant difference between individuals' empathic tendencies, communication skills and critical thinking skills (p> 0.05). We think that this study is a preliminary study on empathic tendencies, communication skills, and critical thinking skills of physiotherapy students. Parameters such as gender, different years of education, and welfare levels can affect empathic tendency, communication skills, and critical thinking skills. There are limited studies in the literature investigating the effectiveness of creative drama in the field of health. Therefore, this work can give an idea for subsequent studies. The studies that are conducted with more patients and which are multi-centered should be done. UDC Classification: 615.8,

This study shared unique design experiences by examining the process of transferring residential courses to the Web, and proposed a design model for individuals who want to transfer their courses into this environment. The formative research method was used in the study, and two project teams' processes of putting courses, which were being taught in classrooms at the time, on the Web were examined in depth to reveal and confirm the components of the design model. The participants were 13 instructional designers. In addition to the logbooks kept by the designers, individual and focus group interview techniques were employed in the data-gathering process. Two researchers analyzed the data concurrently using content analysis. The logbooks and the focus-group interviews were used for model formation, and the individual interviews to confirm the components of the model. Based on the findings from the two design cases, the experience-based e-course design model consisting of seven basic stages including forming design team, preliminary search, analysis, instructional and technical design, integration, tests, and improvements was proposed. It is considered that sustaining Web-based course design efforts within this model will enable both implementing the design process more effectively, and the Web-based course obtained at the end of the process to have higher quality.

Objective: Kinesiophobia and fear to return to activity are common problems encountered following musculoskeletal injuries. The relationship between kinesiophobia and some psychological parameters has been investigated in the individuals with a history of ligament injury or fracture of lower extremity. Material and method: The study included 120 individuals (60 female, 60 male), 40 individuals with a history of ligament injury, 40 individuals with a history of fractures in the lower extremities and 40 healthy individuals. The participants were evaluated with Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) and the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-I&STAI-II). Number of fractures or ligament injuries, time of injury, time elapsed from the diagnosis and the duration of treatment were noted. Results: There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of STAI-I and STAI-II scores (p>0.05), however there were significant differences between groups in terms of TSK scores (p=0.001). There were no correlation between STAI-I and TSK scores and STAI-II and TSK scores (p>0.05). TSK scores of the individuals with a history of fracture were significantly higher than other groups (p=0.007). There were no significant differences between the TSK scores in terms of fracture location and ligament injury (p>0.05). Conclusion: It has been concluded that kinesiophobia was not related to emotional status and anxiety levels. Higher kinesiophobia scores of the individuals who had fractures could be related to longer periods of treatment.

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In the pandemic period we are currently in, online education has replaced face-to-face learning activities on a global scale. Institutions that pursue online education programs commonly assume that online learners are ready for this mode of learning. However, online education programs attract attention due to their remarkably high drop-out rates. This begs the question as to why some students are more able to benefit from online education, and demands to reveal the underlying reasons for such a situation. In this regard, the present study explores students' e-readiness for the changeover phase to online education, and how this differs in terms of a range of variables. 428 volunteer undergraduate students from 59 departments across 33 universities in Turkey were recruited to the study. The data collection tools consist of a personal information form and an online education readiness scale. The results indicate that university students' readiness levels for online education were above medium level of the scale. As for the factors which determine online education readiness, it was found that university students have a high level of internet self-efficacy, yet their motivation towards online education is considerably low. In addition, their online education readiness differs significantly in terms of personal computer ownership, internet connection at home, major, and daily internet usage duration, gender, and online education experience, whereas no statistically significant difference was identified in terms of grade year at the university. A significant interaction between gender and online education experience was ascertained as well.