A Quantitative Evaluation of the Experiences of Faculty Members and Students at the Faculty of Theology/Islamic Sciences regarding Distance Education System during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

During the Covid-19 pandemic, lectures have been delivered through distance education since the Spring Semester of the 2019-2020 Academic Year at the faculties of theology/Islamic sciences, as has been the case at all educational levels in our country. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of the students and faculty members of the faculty of theology/Islamic sciences, regarding the impacts of distance education on higher religious education, its advantages and disadvantages, along with problems encountered in this medium of education. In this quantitative study, the data were collected using two online surveys, one of them being for students and the other for faculty members. The data obtained from the participants were analyzed using SPSS v24. The population of the study was the faculty members and students of the faculty of theology/Islamic sciences in Turkey. The sample of the study was selected from a group of faculty members and students at 25 faculties of theology/Islamic sciences dispersed across the seven geographical regions in Turkey.

Keywords

• distance education
• faculty of theology
• faculty of islamic sciences
• the covid-19 pandemic
• higher religious education