Parent Groups Established with Instant Messaging Applications for Math Lessons During Covid-19: Parents' Opinions

Abstract

It is known that communication between parents and instructors has decreased significantly due to the lockdowns and distance education implemented due to Covid19. This shortcoming is being attempted to be remedied via instant messaging applications. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to learn what parents' opinions are of parent groups that math teachers have created using online instant messaging applications like WhatsApp, Bip, Telegram, etc. during the Covid-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data for the study, which was planned as a case study, and content analysis was used to analyze the data. Five male and five female parents of secondary school-aged children make up the study group, they were chosen using the criteria sampling method. The parent groups created using instant messaging applications are commonly used for announcements, homework, homework controls, the distribution of course materials, video URLs, reminders, and the delivery of lesson URLs and passwords for online courses. Students in certain groups also sent mathematics questions to the parent groups, where the problems were answered by the students' teachers. Although it is clear that these groups are helpful for parents in general, there are some drawbacks, including teachers' loss of interest in the groups towards the end of the school year, concerns about security of personal information, late-night messages, and unnecessary talks.