The Emergency Distance Education: An Example Of Observation In Special Education Institutions Course

The purpose of this study is to determine the opinions of special education teacher candidates about the observation course in special education institutions held in the emergency distance education. The 2nd grade 'Observation in Special Education Institutions’ university course which was offered with distance education during the pandemic. This course was offered in a session in a total of 12 weeks which were lasting 77 minutes on average. A total of 40 teacher candidates who attended this course were assigned as a participant for this study. A phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research designs, was applied. In the study, the data were analyzed with the descriptive analysis technique. The data were organized in tables by calculating the frequencies of the codes under each theme (expectations, opinions, suggestions regarding the course). As a result of the analysis, most of the participants found the online course positive regarding having opportunity listening to the experiences of special education teachers and watching real videos of students from different disability groups. However, they recommended that the number of the use of interactive videos, watching detailed videos about each disability group, and the duration of the lesson can be extended.