The TURKISH JOURNAL ON ONLINE EDUCATION: A Content Analysis

As the “Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education” approaches its tenth year, it seemed appropriate to assess to what extent its original goals had been achieved by conducting a content analysis of the Notes for Editors[1] and articles in the issues of appearing between January 2000 and October 2008. The analysis involved determining the articles’ countries of origin, sectors represented, and focus and frequency of the topics covered. It was found that the majority of articles were from Asian countries, with Turkey providing the greatest number of contributions. There were also many papers from the Middle East, Africa, South America, USA, Eastern and Western Europe, and Australia. These articles covered a very wide range of topics and while the quality varied, there has been a appreciable improvement in the research and reporting since the journal’s inception. Some of the papers, presenting non-Western perspectives, are particularly illuminating. The earlier articles tended to be descriptive or theoretical, but the more recent papers have been quantitative-experimental and qualitative-descriptive studies into distance education and e-learning needs, policies, procedures, practices and outcomes. Overall, the papers reveal a greater concern for teaching and learning than the technology per se. Some conclusions were drawn on the achievements of TOJDE and some possible future directions for the journal