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

Abstract

The number of undergraduate students who want to specialize in their ownfields or in others are increasing. For this purpose, they do master’s degrees.However, graduate students who also work cannot achieve their purpose, becauseof reasons such as class hours clashing with working hours, or long distancebetween work and school. Some who enroll programs cannot complete them, andsome others cannot attend master degree programs since the programs they wantto enroll are in other towns, or since they lack foreign language skills. Master’sdegree programs in distance education eliminate the time and distanceconstraints for graduate students who work. The aim of the present study is toget the opinions of master’s degree students on distance education system via aquestionnaire by which they can evaluate it. The questions revolving aroundsuccess factors of distance education were sent to students through socialmedia online. It is difficult to determine clear limits of success factors ofdistance education models, however the study focused on rather generalcriteria. Specific missions of each and every university may well imply newcriteria and exclude some others. The questionnaire of the present studyincludes questions on comprehensive criteria in institutional management, assessmentand improvement of education, technical service, educational mediums,educational designs, etc. The questionnaire with 32 sections was conducted withthe students enrolled in 2016-2017 spring semester. A random sample of 247volunteers participated the questionnaire and the data were presented in tableswith their frequency and percentage. The findings include suggestions forpractitioners and researchers.