MASTER’S DEGREES IN DISTANCE EDUCATION IN TURKEY AND OPINIONS OF STUDENTS

Authors : Gülsen Serap ÇEKEROL

Pages : 91-107

View : 15 | Download : 10

Publication Date : 2018-06-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The number of undergraduate students who want to specialize in their own fields or in others are increasing. For this purpose, they do master’s degrees. However, graduate students who also work cannot achieve their purpose, because of reasons such as class hours clashing with working hours, or long distance between work and school. Some who enroll programs cannot complete them, and some others cannot attend master degree programs since the programs they want to enroll are in other towns, or since they lack foreign language skills. Master’s degree programs in distance education eliminate the time and distance constraints for graduate students who work. The aim of the present study is to get the opinions of master’s degree students on distance education system via a questionnaire by which they can evaluate it. The questions revolving around success factors of distance education were sent to students through social media online. It is difficult to determine clear limits of success factors of distance education models, however the study focused on rather general criteria. Specific missions of each and every university may well imply new criteria and exclude some others. The questionnaire of the present study includes questions on comprehensive criteria in institutional management, assessment and improvement of education, technical service, educational mediums, educational designs, etc. The questionnaire with 32 sections was conducted with the students enrolled in 2016-2017 spring semester. A random sample of 247 volunteers participated the questionnaire and the data were presented in tables with their frequency and percentage. The findings include suggestions for practitioners and researchers. 
Keywords : Distance Education, Distance Master Degree Education, Student Opinion