Opinions of Students Who Educate in The Distance Education Program on Distance Education

Abstract

The research was carried out with 42 participants studying in a distance education graduate program at a foundation university in Anatolia in the 2019-2020 Spring Term. The aim of this study is to evaluate the opinions of the students studying in the distance education graduate program about the education they have received. The study is qualitative and case analysis type of case study was used. The data obtained in the study were collected with an opinion questionnaire prepared by the researchers. By using the Opinion Questionnaire in the research, the study group was asked to evaluate the 15-week distance education courses. 22.4% of the participants in the research state that distance education provides benefits such as time saving, 19.4% time flexibility, 14.9% easy access, and 1.5% economy. In the light of the answers given by the participants in the research, it is stated that the negative aspects of distance education are 20% inability to practice, 20% lack of motivation and distraction, 4% short course duration and limited use of body language. It is seen that 16.8% of the participants declared that the success in distance education courses will increase if students are made more active with two-way communication. It was determined that the participants stated that distance education especially contributed to professional development. With the results of the study, it is evaluated that distance education is necessary for our age, that it can be preferred over face-to-face education, especially with professional development programs, with measures such as overcoming technical problems, making the content more effective, ensuring active participation of students, increasing course duration.