Barriers and Challenges of Distance Learning in Turkey and the Demand for Distance Education Centres (UEM)

Abstract

Today the concept of distance education is fairly well understood and the potential importance of it towards the future of education is also generally acknowledged. With advances in multimedia and communication technologies, Turkish corporations as well as Turkish universities or other Turkish education institutes are adopting distance education frequently. It is understood that the support of the traditional face-to-face approaches of education in higher education institutions continues alongside with an expansion of lifelong learning opportunities. Distance education centers have to face barriers in Turkey such as a lack of staff training in course development and technology, a lack of support for distance learning in general and inadequate faculty selection for distance learning courses. Distance education has faced several challenges in implementation during its decades in history as well. First, distance education provision constitutes a very small section of higher education provision within the federal education system. Second, many Turkish universities and its lecturers seem to be encumbered by existing rules and traditions, which they do not want to break. Third, it appears that the main motivation for offering the variants of distance education described above is financial. Another fact is the bureaucracy that distance learning has to face, before it goes on track. The suggested barriers and challenges highlighted above may suit to the Turkish education sector commonly and lecturers must be aware of them if they would like to use virtual learning environments.