Abstract
This study aimed to determine what applications could be used to increase the motivation levels of learners during the COVID-19 pandemic process and what roles should be carried out by teachers, institutions, families, and learners in this process. In this study, phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. In this context, the opinions of the participants who were determined by purposeful sampling method were consulted. The opinions obtained from the participants were analyzed with content analysis. The findings obtained within the scope of the study, in order to maintain the motivation levels of the learners in the COVID-19 pandemic period, revealed the roles that teachers, institutions, families, and learners should carry out.
TopIntroduction
A situation that occurs anywhere in the world can be the cause of other unpredictable situations. To explain this situation, it is necessary to look at the chaos theory. The chaos theory is based on the butterfly effect (Lorenz, 1972), which explains that the flutter of a butterfly in Asia can turn into a storm around the world. The most recent event that can be given as an example of this situation can be shown that the coronavirus (Covid-19) case that emerged in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019 turned into a pandemic and affected the whole world in a short time. With the definition of COVID-19 as a global epidemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), a worldwide differentiation has started to emerge in social life (Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health, 2020: 5). Flights were canceled, football competitions were postponed / canceled, congresses and symposiums could not be held, face-to-face education was suspended, and restrictions on curfew emerged. Therefore, it is not enough to evaluate these developments and changes in social life only in the health sector. In this context, it can be said that as a result of this global epidemic, unusual difficulties have been experienced all over the world in sociocultural, political, economic, psychological and many areas that are difficult to foresee (Bozkurt et al., 2020). However, education is one of the areas affected by this situation. With the Covid-19 pandemic, a new perspective has been brought to all applications in education (Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020).
With the Covid-19 pandemic process, a number of measures were taken together, due to its rapid spread from person to person, physical contact between individuals was tried to be controlled and the pandemic was tried to be controlled, and in this context, educational institutions of all levels were closed in a total of 191 countries. With the closure of schools, the education of 1.6 billion learners, corresponding to approximately 90% of the total student population, has been disrupted all over the world (UNESCO, 2020). With the closure of the schools, unlike planned distance education activities, emergency distance education processes were put into practice in order to ensure the continuity of education (Bond, 2020; Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020; Hodges et al., 2020). It has been observed that many institutions have experienced negativities due to the fact that educational institutions were caught unprepared for this process. Negativities experienced in educational environments can be effective for a long time depending on the degree of influence of learners and cause negative attitudes such as insecurity, low motivation and lack of self-confidence (Akmansoy, 2012).
Adversely affecting learners' motivation in the learning process is undoubtedly a situation that will reduce learning outcomes. With the Covid-19 pandemic process, the separation of learners from learning environments, peers and instructors is considered as a situation that will decrease the motivation levels of learners. Motivation, one of the most important factors affecting the speed, intensity, direction and persistence of human behavior (Fırat et al., 2018), is one of the most important components of learning processes (Chaiprasurt & Esichaikul, 2013; Miltiadou & Savenye, 2003). Motivation, defined as a process that initiates and maintains behaviors (McMillan & Forsyth, 1991), helps learners gain knowledge, develop social qualities, increase initiative, insist on activities, improve their performance, and develop a sense of discipline (Singh et al., 2012). Keller (1979) expresses motivation as stimulating, directing and maintaining behaviors. From this point on, motivation can be seen as the power that enables a person to move towards a certain goal.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Learning Environments: Any environment, cultural context, or educational approach in which the instruction and learning occur.
COVID-19: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is defined as illness caused by a novel coronavirus now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV), which was first identified amid an outbreak of respiratory illness cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China.
Motivation: It is the process of learners’ acting with their own desires and wishes to achieve a specific goal.
Distance Learning: It is learner-centered learning where learners are away from each other and learning resources in the context of time and / or space. It is the result of the distance education system.
Learning Outcomes: It is all of the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors that learners are aimed to acquire at the end of a learning activity and/or process.
Phenomenology Design: It is a research design that focuses on facts that we are aware of but do not have an in-depth and detailed understanding, is an inquiry strategy in which the researcher tries to define the essence of human experiences about a phenomenon explained by the participants.