An Analysis of Distance Education Problems Experienced in Higher Education: A Meta-Synthesis Study

Abstract

By using the meta-synthesis method, this study aims to analyze the studies on distance education problems experienced in higher education. The data were gathered by using the “higher education problems”, “e-learning problems”, “online learning problems”, “open education problems”, “web-based learning problems” keywords in Google Academic and TUBITAK ULAKBIM (https://ulakbim.tubitak.gov.tr/) databases. A total of 23 articles meeting the predetermined criteria were included in the study. These articles were analyzed by using the thematic synthesis approach, one of the meta-synthesis methods. The meta-synthesis process developed by Walsh and Downe (2005) was followed in the analysis. Established codes and themes were presented in frequency tables and interpreted. The distance education problems experienced in higher education were discussed under five categories as the “problems relevant to students”, “problems relevant to instructors”, “systemic and administrative problems”, “problems relevant to curriculum”, and “infrastructure and financial problems”. Among these problems, the “problems relevant to students” category was found to have the highest frequency while the “infrastructure and financial problems” had the lowest frequency.