Elementary school teachers' perception of educational and behavioral consequences of implementing evaluation in virtual space during the covid-19 pandemic: a phenomenological study

The purpose of the current research was to study the perception of primary school teachers about the educational and behavioral consequences of implementing evaluation in virtual space during the covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the perception of elementary school teachers was investigated in a qualitative and phenomenological way. The research community included all the elementary school teachers of Birjand city in the academic year 2021-2022, and according to the nature of the research, a criterion-type purposeful sampling method was used, and with a semi-structured interview of 12 elementary school teachers, the data obtained reached saturation. To analyze the collected data, the seven-step Colizzi analysis method, and MAXQDA 12 software were used as data analysis tools. Findings in the form of 8 themes of creating and strengthening the spirit of cheating, reducing teacher-student interaction, reducing student participation, students' dishonesty, anxiety during observation and learning, parents' awareness of students' strengths and weaknesses, reducing anxiety when doing homework and tests, and increasing The motivation of the teacher and students were presented. The findings of the research show that the implementation of descriptive evaluation in cyberspace during the covid-19 epidemic has caused serious educational and behavioral damage to students and has reduced various levels of educational interactions, and also the spirit of cheating has been strengthened in most students. In contrast to consequences such as parents' awareness of students' strengths and weaknesses, reduction of students' psychological pressures such as anxiety, and increase of teacher's motivation to work, have been among the positive consequences of online evaluation. Therefore, in addition to all the mentioned weaknesses, virtual evaluation during the covid-19 epidemic has also brought many advantages and benefits, and virtual evaluation can also be used in a principled way in the post-corona era.