Abstract
EVALUATION OF MARMARA UNIVERISTY DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAM ACCORDING TO THE VIEWS OF STUDENTS
The usage of distance education in higher education has been widespread. Especially in higher education, some undergraduate courses are offered solely online through distance education. Students are engaged in content through video and podcasts, asynchronous discussion, and emails interaction. Students are graded after distance education completed with midterm and final examinations. Although the structure of distance education is differed due to costs, time, circumstances, number of students, the most important question raised is how students experience distance education. In order for distance education to decide whether it is effective and efficient, the evaluation study should be done. The purpose of this study is to evaluate distance education applied in Marmara University according to the views of students. The research model of this study is qualitative case study using a questionnaire which has seven open-ended questions. A call was made for the research for students to take part in. The students who wanted volunteerly (n=15) participate in the study were collected data. Thus, our aim is not to generalize findings, but to get in-depth understanding about individual students’ experience and views. Although the results indicate that the advantages of distance education outweigh its disavtantages, most of the students consider the application of distance education being unable to succeed. In addition, the students provide a number of suggestions about the planning and application of distance education. The findings are discussed based on literature and previous studies.
Keywords
Distance education, evaluation, Marmara University
