Modeling the contribution of distance education to students’ preparation for the professions

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in predicting the contribution level of open and distance learning to students’ career, in order to perceive the pathway for higher quality standards. For this purpose, Anadolu University Faculty of Open Education, which can be considered a leader in its field, to learners’ professions and their career goals, organized a research project in which a questionnaire was conducted involving approximately 17,000 associate and undergraduate students to build a database of responses. The data was used to determine the contribution level of the open education programs. The five ordered-level contributions were recorded to a response variable. Demographical, educational and economic variables were successfully used in mapping the categorical responses using the ordinal logistic regression analysis method (OLR). The results, unlike other studies, indicate that there is a positive relationship between family size and the contribution level of distance education on students’ preparation for the professions. In a novel way, the socioeconomic level of the students is considered in the OLR model as an economic factor. As a consequence, the students with moderate and higher socioeconomic levels demonstrated superior levels of contribution.