While technology is already transforming many fields, educational institutions are typically conservative, so they are still resisting its affordances in many aspects, as was seen with the Covid-19 outbreak. For instance, Conole and Fill (2005) state that few academic staff have the expertise to design and implement courses in new mediums, despite technology's ubiquity of time and space removal. It became even more critical to possess these skills during times such as the Covid-19 pandemic, when not only did education materials have to be designed but lessons needed to be delivered almost exclusively online.For many educators, this was a new way of teaching, posing certain challenges, including creating pedagogically sound lessons in this medium. The ways in which teachers design have not been widely studied, and researchers have examined design practices, design processes, and supports when designing learning and factors affecting the design thinking of both novice and experienced academic staff at universities (Goodyear, 2005; Bennett, Agostinho & Lockyer, 2017; Agostinho, Lockyer & Bennett, 2018).

Taking into account these factors, the study aims to understand the factors that influence faculty members' designing courses during Covid-19 pandemics at a private university in Turkey. The sample of the study consisted of 12 faculty members selected through purposive sampling, who represent 5 faculties at the university the study was conducted at. A qualitative methodology was used in this study in order to understand the factors that played a role in course-design processes in relation to Covid-19 pandemic in depth. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews in 2020-2021 Spring semester. The data in this study were analyzed following Bronfenbrenner's (1979) multi-level ecological model. The analysis of the first interviews reveal that a number of factors were at stake for faculty members when it comes to course design during Covid-19 pandemic. In other words, as a response to Covid-19, in the format of Emergency Remote Teaching, faculty members had to consider a number of factors. What's more, in order to create pedagogically-sound designs for online courses during pandemics or other emergencies, faculty members need to be informed and provided trainings that cater their needs. Therefore, the study might have implications for teaching personnel at higher education institutions as well as instructional designers, policy makers within and outside universities, curriculum developers and other support personnel at the universities.

A qualitative methodology was used in this study in order to understand the phenomenon, how faculty members designed their courses during Covid-19 pandemic, in detail. For this purpose, a set of interview questions was developed and the data were collected through semi structured interviews. In total, 12 interviews were held with 12 participants, which lasted up to 100 minutes. To analyze the data, Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model was used. This framework was particularly selected in that it allows analyzing the data at various levels, namely, a) meso level, b) macro level, and c) micro level factors. The interview data were coded and analyzed using a qualitative data analysis software.

Preliminary results reveal that a number of factors played a role in course design processes of faculty members during Covid-19 pandemic. Some of them are related to institutional requirements, teacher and student characteristics as well as support mechanisms. One example for institutional requirements theme can be that "active learning" policy is frequently taken into consideration by faculty members while designing their courses as it is a univeristy-wide policy regardless of the faculties or programs. Likewise, one example for teacher characteristics theme is about "digital self-efficacy" as it was reported to be one of the determining factors by faculty memebers while creating and adapting digital materials during emergency remote teaching period. This study might have some implications for various stakeholders. Firstly, academicians teaching at higher education institutions can benefit from the findings in this study, for taking the factors outlined in this study into consideration while developing courses to be delivered in times of emergencies such as Covid-19. Secondly, depending on the organizational structure, support personnel including instructional designers, curriculum developers, assessment specialists as well as educational technology coordinators might benefit from the findings in this study to create or assist the instructor of the course in creating pedagogically-sound courses. Moreover, policymakers at various levels might use such data to make informed decisions during times of emergencies.

Agostinho, S., Lockyer, L., & Bennett, S. (2018). Identifying the characteristics of support Australian university teachers use in their design work: Implications for the learning design field. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 34(2). Bennett, S., Agostinho, S., & Lockyer, L. (2017). The process of designing for learning: Understanding university teachers’ design work. Educational Technology Research and Development, 65, 125-145. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Harvard University Press. Conole, G., & Fill, K. (2005). A learning design toolkit to create pedagogically effective learning activities. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, (1). Conole, G., & Wills, S. (2013). Representing learning designs–making design explicit and shareable. Educational Media International, 50(1), 24-38. Goodyear, P. (2015). Teaching as design. Herdsa review of higher education, 2(2), 27-50.