Toward structuring a graduate program in distance education

Abstract

Distance education programs are becoming more popular in Turkey. The continuing capacity issue in higher education, opportunities provided with technological developments, changes in learning needs and understanding of learning are some reasons. However, faculty, staff and administration in distance education systems may not have sufficient background in the distance education field. There is a need for professionals who have theoretical knowledge and/or practical skills in the field and also foresight into the future and make necessary changes in current systems. It is necessary to gain effective and high quality results. Certificate and/or graduate programs in the distance education field can provide opportunities to train experts. The participants in these programs can be candidates who are planning to work or the faculty/staff already working in this kind of system. Structuring such a program is then an important issue to be considered. Stakeholders' perspectives and expectations should be examined and evaluated. Academic staff who have been working in this field and learners are two of the groups that can be consulted. The aim of this chapter, therefore, is to discuss and analyze the scope, management, characteristics and implementation dimensions of distance education from the point of the people involved in distance education activities. This chapter addresses a qualitative study in which interviews were done with the two groups respectively. Suggestions were presented based on the findings