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Abstract/Summary
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In early 2020, after December 2019 outbreak in China, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified SARS-CoV-2 as a new type of coronavirus (COVID-19) (1). The COVID-19 announced as pandemic that occur severe acute respiratory syndrome and has not been previously identified in humans (1). Researches show that person-to-person transmission can occur via direct contact or through droplets spread by coughing or sneezing from an infected individual. All countries of the world have taken precautions against this virus, which has no effective treatment and spreads rapidly (2).
The first confirmed case in Turkey COVID-19 was recorded and declared on March 11, 2020. WHO announced COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020 and the Turkish government took action with these developments thus restrictions, new implementations began in Turkey too (3). Restrictions such as distance learning or lockouts began to keep people at home longer and limit movement of the population.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the field of education as well as in other areas. In Turkey, as in many countries of the world, options such as various e-learning platforms that enable teachers and students to work and interact together, rapidly developing national television programs (e.g., TRT EBA TV, where primary, secondary and high school lessons are taught from distance) or lecture videos on social media platforms have started to be implemented (4).
COVID-19 pandemic rules and restrictions may have led to the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the general population. Moreover, multiple stressors may have led to increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depressive thoughts among students. A study investigating the Mental Health of College Students showed that the COVID-19 pandemic had negative effects on higher education due to the prolonged pandemic situation and difficult measures such as lockdown and stay-at home orders (5). Nervousness, frustration, emotional confusion, sadness, exhaustion, boredom, insomnia, inadequate information, poor concentration, and indecisiveness, deteriorating work performance, financial problems are the most common psychological and behavioral reactions in this process (6).
Students' attitudes toward distance education may be variable. Too many factors may lead to these different attitudes. According to one study, although students express positive opinions about distance education, such as being comfortable with computer and internet use, feeling moderately effective and productive, and feeling moderate self-efficacy, they want to return to traditional education (7). This shows us that students struggle to fully adopt distance education.
Tele-health applications are also seen as a solution in Audiology to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Audiologists are professionals who provide face-to-face patient care. During this period, one way of providing audiological services to patients was the transition to tele- Audiology service. The study of audiologists' opinions on tele-Audiology services during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that Audiologists generally had a positive experience (8). However, audiologists said that improvements and training in the system were needed and they also noted that some hybrid-care pathways should be available as some procedures need to be implemented in person (8). Tele-Audiology applications may offer some solutions for limited-service delivery capacity, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic (9). The use of different tele-Audiology service delivery models [synchronous real-time, asynchronous (store-and-forward), and hybrid models] can increase the accessibility of services (10). For these reasons, it is important to train Audiology students on tele-health and tele-Audiology issues during their education.
There has been a total and compulsory transition to the new system, because of the needs arising in terms of the education system during the COVID-19 period. E-learning (distance online education) was applied in this process in Turkey as a new model. However, this process brought with it difficulties in many areas such as education quality, e-learning, psychological and emotional state. In the literature, the effects of COVID-19 on education have been investigated, especially for applied departments. A study on the “Advantages and Limitations” of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted with 12 students and 12 faculty members from the departments of medicine and dentistry. The study showed that while comfort and accessibility are among the advantages of online learning, limitations involved inefficiency and difficulty in providing academic integrity education (11). The study also stated that teaching and learning practical and clinical work through online learning modalities as the limit of online education (11). In a survey that ASHA conducted, 100% of audiology student participants and 98% of graduate speech-language pathology students showed that the pandemic had a “major” or “moderate” impact on their academic lives. E-learning can lead to difficulty in maintaining attention and ensuring interactive participation during the course (12). For this reason, we aimed to investigate this situation in many contexts. Furthermore, we planned to address not only the new system in education and the disadvantages it brought, but also the emotional psychological and social situations created by this period for students. Therefore, we determined the following questions in order to analyze the experiences of the Audiology students during the COVID-19 period: (1) readiness of universities to the new system, (2) course content, quality and level of interaction, (3) management of practical courses, (4) emotional, psychological, social and professional development status of students.
Audiology undergraduate program lasts 4 years, Master's program lasts 2 years, in Turkey. According to the National Audiology Main Education Program (for undergraduate program) audiology undergraduate education, practical courses start with the spring semester of the first year (13). There are also practical courses in the graduate education course period. The current study was conducted in the spring term of 2020.
The aim of the study is to examine the perspectives of Audiology students on online education, the level of competence of professional skills acquired by e-learning systems, and their psychological, emotional and social status during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey.
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