Primary School Teachers' Opinions on Using EBA in the COVID-19 Outbreak Process

In today's world, where technological developments are rapidly advancing, the ability to conduct learning activities through online environments has provided a great opportunity to reach many students in unexpected situations (pandemic, natural disaster, etc.) With the FATIH project (Movement of Enhancing Opportunities and Improving Technology - in Turkish Fırsatları Artırma ve Teknolojiyi İyileştirme Hareketi) in our country, the EBA (Educational Informatics Network – in Turkish Eğitim Bilişim Ağı) virtual environment was created in 2010. The existence of EBA has gained a special importance in the continuation of education and training activities in extraordinary situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. With the COVID-19 pandemic, since the beginning of 2020, education and teaching activities around the world have been tried to be carried out through distance education environments. The purpose of this study is to determine the views of primary school teachers who use the EBA virtual environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study, one of the qualitative research designs, was preferred in the implementation of the research. The research was carried out with 20 primary school teachers working in primary schools in Uşak in the 2020-2021 academic year. The maximum variation method was used to determine the sample. A personal information form and semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers were used to obtain the data. After the data obtained were passed through the content analysis process, the themes of EBA competence, distance education problems, benefits of EBA, management approach, usability of EBA and suggestions were concluded. 15 of the primary school teachers participating in the study stated that they had a connection problem while accessing the EBA virtual environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. 11 of the primary school teachers stated that there were inequalities of opportunity during the pandemic process, students did not have the necessary technological equipment to access EBA due to economic inadequacy or they did not have internet connections. Families with many children and experiencing economic difficulties emerged as a disadvantaged group in this process. Connecting to distance education has been a serious problem for the children of families who were unemployed during the pandemic and for students living in rural areas. 19 of the primary school teachers who participated in the study stated that the EBA virtual environment was beneficial in terms of continuing the education process.