Abstract:

This study aims to reveal how university students conceptualize their thoughts about distance education through metaphors. The phenomenological pattern, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. Criterion sampling, one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used to determine the study group of the study. In the criterion sampling technique, individuals who are interested in the research subject and have knowledge are generally used in determining the participants. Being a university student subjected to distance education was determined as the basic criterion in the selection of the participants in this study. In line with the purpose of the study, a study group consisting of distance education university students who are knowledgeable about the research subject was determined. In the study group determined for this study, a total of 1449 university students, 508 from Mus Alparslan University and 941 from Bingol University, who studied distance education in the 2019-2020 academic year, were included. In the research, students were asked to complete the metaphor sentence. The "content analysis" technique was used in the analysis of the data obtained in the study. As a result of the research, university students produced 854 different metaphors about the concept of "distance education". These metaphors created by the students were categorized considering their similar aspects. According to the similarities of the metaphors formed by university students, 59 different codes and 2 separate categories as positive and positive were created. According to the results of the research, metaphors were mostly produced by the students under the code of "being inadequate" (f = 68). According to the findings of the research, it is suggested that distance education practitioners should install new skills and roles.

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