Going the distance: The perception of Turkish students on distance education

More and more institutions are focusing on providing their faculty with technological training to deliver distance education. However, effective pedagogical practices for distance education are hinged to students’ perceptions. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the influence of some demographic factors on the students’ perception of distance education and the impact of students’ perception on distance education in relation to their programme at a research university in Turkey. The study was conducted using a survey research design. The survey was distributed to the students who receive distance education from different departments from a vocational high school. A total of 621 students were interviewed randomly and mixed method approach was used to analyse the results. Research outcome reveals that the type of education, as well as the department to which students belong, bear significant influence on their perception of distance education, while participants’ gender and age have insignificant influence. Moreover, results demonstrate that there is a positive relationship between the students’ perception of distance education and the students’ programme. The results offer data for consideration on how distance education in Turkey could be further developed