Influences of Social Structure on Implementation and Evolution of Turkish Distance Education Fethi A. Inan The University of Memphis Erman Yükseltürk Middle East Technical University MSERA 2004, Gatlinburg, TN, Nov , 2004

Turkey Turkey's land mass is sq.km. The European and Asian sides are divided by the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles.

Facts About Turkey Population of Turkey : 67.8 million (as of 2002) Number of PC s : 1.4 Million Number of cellular phone holders : 28 Million (2003) Yearly income per capita : $3.500 Current Internet Users : 5.5 million (2003) Literacy rate (2003) total population: 86.5% male: 94.3% female: 78.7%

Turkish Education System Primary school (K 1-8) Mandatory Directed by Government High School (K 9-11) Directed by Government Separate schools (Regular/ Vocational) University Enrolment by national student selection exam Facilitate by Higher Education Council

Turkish Education System The Current Situation in Education ( School Year) Levels of educatıon# Schools# Students# Teachers Preschool Primary School Secondary School General High Schools Vocational and Tech. High Total Formal Education Non-formal Education GRAND TOTAL

Characteristics of Turkish Culture Low-power distance High-power distance Weak uncertainty Av. Strong uncertainty av. Masculinity Femininity Individualistic Collectivist Low-context High-context Adapted from McIsaac, M. S. & Aydin, C. H. (2004)

History: DE in Turkey Distance education has been employed in the Turkish Education System during three prominent periods: : first period : second period : third period after 1996 : fourth period

In 1927, A distance education model, “correspondence course”, was offered to increase national literacy From 1935 to 1955, distance education was brought to the agenda of public opinion from time to time but no action was taken History: DE in Turkey, 1 st period

In 1958, Correspondence Course Center (CCC) was founded within the Ministry of Education School Radio started in to 1978, "Education Through Letters" application started History: DE in Turkey: 2 nd period

In 1982, Anadolu University (Open Education Faculty, OEF) started a program in Business Administration and Economics OEF extends number of programs and students after starting one program and about students. OEF had a total of students regarding the academic year History: DE in Turkey, 3 rd period

In 1996, Bilkent University initiated some synchronous DE courses via satellite. In 1997, Middle East Technical University (METU) started experimental distance education course via the Internet. In 1998, METU started Internet Based Distance Learning certificate programs In 2000, Sakarya University started online certificate programs History: DE in Turkey, 4 th period

Online degree programmes Istanbul Bilgi University, 2000: Online Business Administration (e-MBA) Middle East Technical University: Online Master of Science Program in Information Science. Anadolu University & Suny, ESC started a joint e-MBA program

Preview: DE in Turkey DrivesTechnologies 1 st Period ( ) Increase literacy level-- 2 nd Period ( ) Increase literacy level Improve workforce quality Radio Printed materials 3 rd Period ( ) Politics Military service Increase country profile Shortage of workforce/ Job Promotions Printed material TV 4 th Period (1996 -….) Provide flexible education Needs for workforce Appeal students Appearances of private universities Internet

Conclusion & Suggestions Analyze the needs, problems, and characteristics of society Ready-to-use interventions have never been successful in Turkey so that people should be provided with alternative technology solutions Examine prior experiences

Things to do Create technology infrastructure Improve access to information technologies Train faculty members and teachers in educational institutions