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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool in education, enhancing instructional processes and reshaping teachers’ interactions with students. The effective integration of AI technologies can support teachers’ pedagogical competencies, thereby increasing student achievement and motivation. In this context, teachers’ attitudes toward AI play a crucial role in the adoption and successful implementation of these technologies in educational settings. This study examined teachers’ attitudes toward the use of AI and investigated whether these attitudes differed across various demographic variables. The research employed quantitative, causal-comparative design and was conducted with 159 teachers. Data were collected using an attitude scale toward AI. The findings revealed that teachers’ attitudes toward AI in education differed significantly according to age, years of professional experience, current use of AI, and participation in AI-related training. In contrast, no statistically significant differences were found based on gender, school level, school type, or geographic location. These findings suggest that teachers’ attitudes toward AI technologies are shaped by personal and professional factors, which may have significant implications for integrating AI into educational practices.

It is of great importance that teachers, who are at the forefront of society's learning journey, continuously update their knowledge and skills to maintain their professional competence and provide a quality learning environment for students, thus continuing lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is an important concept that is increasingly being incorporated into our country's policies. In this regard, distance education offers a wide range of opportunities for lifelong learning, particularly for individuals who are unable to participate in face-to-face training due to its independence from time and space. MOOCs can be considered the most up-to-date and appropriate opportunity distance education offers for lifelong learning. MOOCs are platforms open to everyone's participation over the internet, can include courses on almost any subject, and can reach millions of students. The most important feature that differentiates them from other internet resources is that they are in a course format. Thanks to MOOCs, obtaining certificates from universities recognized worldwide is possible. However, when the Turkish literature was analysed, it was seen that there was not enough emphasis on the potential of MOOCs for teachers. Therefore, in this study, the opportunities offered by MOOCs to teachers, who have an important role in shaping and transforming society, in the context of lifelong learning, were examined. The opportunities were discussed under eight headings: learning regardless of time and place, professional development, personal development, foreign language learning, networking and collaboration, technology use and digital literacy, learning motivation, and job opportunities.

Purpose: This study aims to determine the opinions of pre-service teachers who receive education through blended learning regarding Google Classroom support and their interaction preferences in blended learning environments. Methodology: The research was conducted using a case study design, one of the qualitative research designs. Data were collected from 11 pre-service teachers who participated in a teaching practice course, utilizing a semi-structured interview form. The collected data were coded and categorized using descriptive and content analysis methods. Findings: The study found that students primarily utilized Google Classroom for assignments and interactions with instructors, other students, and course content. Students emphasized their need for interaction with the instructor as the most significant aspect of blended learning, followed by content interaction and interaction with other students. Pre-service teachers' views towards Google Classroom were positive. Their opinions were categorized under the categories of contribution to self-regulation, an interactive assignment system, ease of use, and student-student interaction. Highlights: Google Classroom can be used as a support for LMSs. When it is used with activities that will attract students' interest, it may be possible to increase students' satisfaction. Students were very satisfied with the detailed and quick feedback on their assignments. Another prominent feature of Google Classroom is that the documents are systematically organized and always accessible. One may suggest that LMSs that do not have these features should take precautions at this point. All of the students plan to use Google Classroom in their professional life.

In this study, the relationship between students’ e-learning readiness, perceptions of interaction in online learning environments, satisfaction, and academic achievement was examined. The research was conducted according to correlational study principles. The academic achievement variable of the study was determined based on the final exam grades of the students, and three separate scales were used for other variables. The data of the study were obtained from 212 students who received fully online education. The data obtained were analyzed by structural equation modelling method. According to the results of the study, e-learning readiness and interaction perception are predictors of satisfaction in online learning environments. The effect of interaction on satisfaction was found to be higher. There is a moderate relationship between student-content and student-instructor interaction dimensions of interaction and satisfaction. There is a low level relationship between many dimensions of e-learning readiness and satisfaction. However, e-learning readiness, interaction, and satisfaction are not predictors of academic achievement. Moreover, no significant relationship was found between e-learning readiness and interaction. Based on the findings of the study, various comments and suggestions were made regarding better online learning environments.

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.

Introduction: Open educational e-resources (OERs) are one of the informational resources that are openly available to all. Open educational e-resources provide learners with free access to high-quality educational content and materials. Learners should be able to use, read, adapt, and share these resources freely. In this study, we aimed to examine academics’ open educational e-resources usage intentions. We also tried to understand behavioral differences by collecting data from two different countries: Turkey and the United Kingdom. Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional approach, which is one of the quantitative research designs. In cross-sectional studies, several variables (characteristics, behavior, attitude, etc.) are measured simultaneously. Data were collected using a questionnaire based on the quantitative research paradigm. In order to address the research problem, the two researchers of the current study developed this questionnaire based on field expert opinion, a literature review, and from the researchers’ experiences. The questionnaire was initially developed in Turkish and then translated into English. In the current study 67 participants from Turkey and 18 from the United Kingdom have answered all the items of the questionnaire. Results: In this study, the academics were found to be more inclined to use existing resources (81.39% for Turkey, 72.72% for the United Kingdom) than to generate e-resources of their own (47.67% for Turkey; 50% for the United Kingdom). The frequency for the usage of open educational e-resources for Turkey is 97 and 6 for the United Kingdom. The frequency number of open educational e-resources per participant from the United Kingdom averaged as less than one. Similarly, academics did not find beneficial the use of social media (frequencies for Turkey and the United Kingdom is 136 and 45) and video-hosting sites (frequencies for Turkey and the United Kingdom is 93 and 31). We can see that the academics expressed benefitting from e-resources whilst preparing new content (X̄ _TR =1.12, 82.09%; X̄ _UK =0.78, 77.78%, respectively) or enriching current content (X̄ _TR =1.25, 88.06%; X̄ _UK =0.94, 83.33%, respectively); engaging existing content (X̄ _TR =1.10, 80.60%; X̄ _UK =0.89, 72.23%, respectively) or for preparing interactive course content (X̄ _TR =0.73, 74.63%; X̄ _UK =0.94, 83.33%, respectively). The participant academics from Turkey generally reported finding e-resources to be useful in the long term (X̄ _TR =1.13, 83.59%), and think that they will contribute to their interdisciplinary studies (X̄ _TR =0.81, 71.64%). Like the academics in Turkey, academics from the United Kingdom reported finding e-resources to be useful in the long term (X̄ _UK =0.67, 66.67%). The academics from both countries stated that if they had more time (X̄ _TR =1.13, 80.59%; X̄ _UK =1.11, 83.34%, respectively), and if e-resources were customized more according to their needs (X̄ _TR =0.61, 64.18%; X̄ _UK =0.44, 55.56%, respectively), and they had a basic level of technology literacy (X̄ _TR =0.76, 68.66%; X̄ _UK =0.89, 68.34%, respectively), they would likely use and benefit from e-resources more frequently. Discussion: Being familiar with open educational e-resources positively affects attitudes towards open educational e-resources; therefore, academics should be encouraged to become better acquainted with the development of open educational e-resources. However, academics are ready to use and develop open educational e-resources. Managers could help to incentivize academics in this regard. In the current study, open educational e-resources preferences seem quietly low. We can especially say that the academics from the UK stated that they rarely use open course materials to learn something. It may be necessary to increase the general awareness of academics about OERs for social media and video-hosting sites as they are among the less preferred OERs. In short, the habits of academics to use OERs can vary culturally. When we compare the results for the two countries, we can say that academics from Turkey have a more positive view of using e-resources for learning purposes compared to those from the UK. Academics from both countries find the use of e-resources useful in the long term, but especially participants from the UK have neither positive nor negative opinions (approximately 50%) about utility perceptions in terms of means of working interdisciplinary, contributing their career, getting certificates, enhancing their professional recognition, making different them from their colleagues, and increasing their level of professional satisfaction. When the necessary conditions are met, academics tend to use e-resources more, and they do not overestimate the problems they face, such as the language barrier. Limitations: As one of the limitations of the current study, the data collected from the United Kingdom was considerably less than that collected from Turkey. Despite periodic reminders having been sent out with regards to the data collection form to academics working in the United Kingdom, only 41 instructors intended to answer the form and only 18 of those gave answers to all items of the questionnaire. Conclusions: This research study has shown that academics both intend to and utilize educational e-resources (including open educational e-resources) for the purposes of their own professional development; however, the results of the study have also revealed the need to increase usage more widely in this area. The current study has shown that academics working in Turkey had slightly higher e-resource usage than those working in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it can be said that the open educational e-resources usage intentions of the academics from Turkey was higher as well. Whilst the results of this study are not generalizable due to the limited sample size, academics’ open educational e-resources usage intention is a promising topic of study for the future. Furthermore, it is clear that educational e-resources could be more widely employed for the purposes of professional development, regardless of the country or level of education.

Bu araştırmanın amacı, ebeveynlerin Covid-19 pandemisi sürecinde gerçekleştirilen acil uzaktan eğitime yönelik algı ve görüşlerini belirlemektir. Bu doğrultuda ebeveynlerin metaforik algıları ile acil uzaktan eğitim hakkındaki olumlu ve olumsuz düşünceleri belirlenmiştir. Araştırma, nitel araştırma desenlerinden durum çalışması ve fenemenoloji desenleri temelinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çalışma grubunu birçok farklı meslek, eğitim seviyesi ve şehirden 57 ebeveyn oluşturmuştur. Veriler metaforik algı formu ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu ile elde edilmiştir. Verilerin analizi sonucunda, velilerin acil uzaktan eğitime yönelik hem olumlu hem olumsuz algılarının var olduğu saptanmıştır. Bazı veliler acil uzaktan eğitimi can simidi, kurtarıcı gibi olumlu metaforlarla tanımlarken bazıları ise bu kavramı kâbus, işkence gibi olumsuz metaforlarla tanımlamıştır. Acil uzaktan eğitimin, duyuşsal, öğretimsel, teknik, sağlıkla ilgili, etkileşimsel, özel hayatla ilgili, çalışan ebeveynlerin zorlanması ile ilgili birçok olumsuz etkisi olduğu ifade edilmiştir. Olumlu etkiler ise öğretimsel, etkileşim, tasarruf, sağlık, esneklik, kişisel gelişim, duyuşsal etkiler ve diğer olumlu etkiler olmak üzere kategorilendirilmiştir.

While the demand for open and distance education is increasing, it also faces high dropout rates. The reasons and solutions for student dropouts need considerable attention. This study aims to uncover the reasons for student dropouts considering the perspective of students, field experts, instructors, administrators, and support staff. Data from semi-structured interviews with 40 participants revealed that students decide to drop out mainly due to four main reasons: internal reasons, external reasons, student characteristics, and student skills. These reasons include 37 sub-factors such as academic integration, social integration, financial status, personality, and self-regulation. The sub-factors and selected quotations from the interviews are presented in the findings. According to the results, administrators, field experts, instructors, and support staff are not aware of all the dropout reasons. The results of this research are believed to guide researchers, practitioners, and administrators in enhancing the quality of open and distance education.

Açık ve Uzaktan Öğrenme kitabımız ile başta lisans ve yüksek lisans öğrencileri olmak üzere alanda araştırma yapan, bu konu ile ilgili ders veren ve bu alana gönül veren herkese -özellikle de uzaktan eğitimin çokça tartışıldığı bu dönemde- katkı s

This study examined studies focusing on student engagement in distance education using a trend analysis technique. 154 studies published in web of science database were included in the study. Analysis showed that there is an increasing effort to understand student engagement. Researchers are mostly focusing on instructional design and educational technology. More effort is needed in the area of distance education systems and theories. The findings offer support for Chickering and Gamson’s Seven Principles of Good Practice as important in promoting student engagement in distance education. However, six new components were added to these principles: media properties, student characteristics, teaching method, course/content design, innovative techniques, and instructor competencies.