Conducting Social Studies Course with Distance Education: Reviewing the Literature and Experiences of Classroom Teachers

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting all over the world, the social studies course, like all other courses, has started to be given via distance education. Although there are many studies aiming to reveal classroom teachers’ distance education experiences in other disciplines (i.e., sciences mathematics, physical education), no study has been encountered on distance social studies teaching. Therefore, in the present study it was both aimed to examine the experiences of classroom teachers’ on conducting social studies courses in distance education and review the relevant studies systematically. In this way, the research findings will be interpreted in a more comprehensive way. The case study design and systematic review were utilized to conduct the present study. Data were collected through literature review and semi-structured interview form. Interviews were held with seven classroom teachers who conducted the social studies courses with distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Both criterion sampling and convenience sampling techniques were utilized to determine the participants. The data were analysed via content analysis technique. To ensure inter-rater reliability, inter-coder reliability was calculated and a detail description on the research stages was provided to increase the credibility of the study. The findings addressing the problems and the benefits classroom teachers experienced while conducting social studies courses in distance education substantially overlap with literature review findings. The challenges experienced by classroom teachers in distance education are more than the benefits. Classroom management, interaction and assessment and evaluation were the most complained issues by classroom teachers. It was also determined that advanced technology literacy skill, positive attitude towards distance education and dedication are crucial to success in distance education.