Determining Teachers’, Students’, and Parents’ Perceptions of Distance Education through Metaphors

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to reveal the perceptions of teachers, students, and parents about the concept of “distance education” through metaphor. Phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. 34 teachers, 131 students, and 44 parents who participated in the study were asked to make a metaphor sentence for distance education by the online data collection tool. The data obtained were analyzed by content analysis and categories were constituted by classifying the metaphors according to their common characteristics. Metaphors of the participants towards distance education were gathered in the categories of “uselessness”, “education type”, “offering opportunity”, “virtuality”, “individuality”, “irreplaceable”, “obligation”, “usage”, and “school independence”. Participants mostly used metaphors of “face-to-face education”, “school”, “video”, “open education”, and “sun” for distance education. When the sentences of metaphors made were examined, it was determined that the participants had a negative perception towards distance education in general. To change this perception, it is recommended to provide teachers, students, and parents with a quality distance education experience.