INTRODUCTION
Anadolu University is established in Eskisehir, which is two and half-hour drive from Ankara, and four-hour drive from Istanbul.
Eskisehir Economics and Business Academy, founded in 1958, was the foundation
of Anadolu University. In the year 1982, The Academy was named Anadolu
University an in a short time, became one of the modern, dynamic and hi-tech
universities not only in Turkey but also in the world. Today, Anadolu
University has two campuses. The main campus, Yunus Emre Campus, is in
the downtown of Eskisehir, while Iki Eylül Campus is located five
kilometers away from the city center.
Anadolu University, committed to universal university ethics, has twelve faculties, three of which are distance education, six schools, a conservatory (School of Music and Drama), four vocational schools, nine institutes and twenty-one research centers. Anadolu University is known as the university, which always applies cutting-edge technologies first, Anadolu University with its advanced technological infrastructure and qualified faculty members provide students with an enriched academic and social environment to prepare students for tomorrow.
The faculties of Anadolu University (in alphabetic order) are:
Faculty of Pharmacy tires to help solve health problems in Turkey by training qualified pharmacists by internationally renowned faculty members in hi-tech labs.
Faculty of Humanities trains competent experts in different fields within this faculty and educate students with local and universal cultural values in a scientific framework.
Faculty of Education trains teachers with both academic and pedagogical knowledge that would enable them to perform in a constantly changing world.
Faculty of Science trains future scientists who are furnished with the theoretical background and practical knowledge in their field.
Faculty of Fine Arts: Art is a life style for Anadolu University. The Faculty strives to offer the best creative education to its students.
Faculty of Law aims to educate qualified professionals to work in all areas of law and to serve as law consultants, judges, lawyers and public prosecutors.
Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences provides good quality and competitive education so that students are furnished with the ability to compete in today’s working environment which is rapidly changing.
Faculty of Communication Sciences provides students high quality education with advanced technological facilities and expert faculty members for the media sector.
Faculty of Engineering and Architecture aims at giving high quality education to students to carry out professional work after graduation.
The schools at Anadolu University are Physical Education and Sports, Industrial Arts, Civil Aviation, Tourism and Hotel Management, Music and Drama, Foreign Languages and School for the Handicapped.
Porsuk, Bilecik and Bozüyük Vocational Schools provide two-year vocational education in different areas to meet the demands for qualified personnel and technicians.
The graduate schools are Graduate School of Social Sciences, Graduate School of Education Sciences, Graduate School of Science and Graduate School of Health Sciences, (Anadolu University Handbook, 2004).
NUMBER OF STUDENTS AT ANADOLU UNIVERSITY
Currently, there are 870 thousand distance education students, 20,279 resident students, 1,317 masters’ degree students, and 475 doctorate students.
Over five thousand new students enroll each year and nearly half of them attend a one-year intensive foreign language classes.
SCIENTIFIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES IN ANADOLU UNIVERSITY
Social and cultural activities are very important for Anadolu University. Various types of scientific activities (such as conferences, seminars, panels, symposiums, etc.), and social and cultural activities (such as demonstrations, theatres, concerts, exhibitions, festivals, etc.) are held within the University. Every year, in October, some of the activities of the International Eskisehir Fest are held at Anadolu University. In addition, throughout the year, other performances by the state theaters, operas, concerts, etc. are staged at the university.
“Anadolu Theatre” stages performances with large repertories in the Ataturk Culture and Art Center. Student clubs also have the opportunity to organize different types of activities which enables students to socialize, enjoy and share experiences. The Folk Dance Group of Anadolu University performs Turkish folk dances of different regions not Turkish Classical Music and Turkish Folk Music Chorus enable young generations to learn about traditional Turkish music.
In the 2002-2003 academic year, a total of 824 activities were held at Anadolu University. 368 of them were international and national scientific events such as conferences, congress, panels, symposiums etc., and 486 of them were cultural and social activities such as plays, concerts, and exhibitions.
In addition, the weekly published student newspaper Anadolu News, student-run radio station, Radio A and television channel TV A provide students with news about the university and the chance to gain experience working in the media.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Most of the faculty members at Anadolu University have international experience in their expertise areas. Anadolu University collaborates with other Turkish Universities as well as universities around the world.
Currently, Anadolu University has agreements with the following international institutions.
1. SUNY Empire State College (USA)
2. SUNY - Cortland (USA)
3. Montpeiller University I/FRANCE (Collaboration Agreement)
Moscow P. I. Caykovsky Government Conservatory/ RUSIA (Art Collaboration Agreement)
4. The Hochschule Anhalt/GERMANY
5. San Diego State University/USA, (Student Exchange Program Agreement)
6. San Diego State University/USA, (Faculty Exchange Program Agreement)
7. San Diego State University/USA, (Collaboration Agreement)
8. Sofia Bulgaria National Sport/BULGARIA, (Faculty Exchange Program Agreement)
9. Sofia Bulgaria National Sport/BULGARIA
10. East Mediterranean University/NCTR, (Scientific and Cultural Collaboration Agreement)
11. National Aviation University/UKRAYNA, (Scientific and Cultural Collaboration Agreement)
12. Stuttgart University/GERMANY, (Cultural Collaboration Agreement)
13. Köln University/GERMANY, (Collaboration Agreement)
14. Tokyo National Fine Arts and Music University/JAPON, (Student Exchange Program Agreement)
15. Tokyo National Fine Arts and Music University/JAPON, (International Art and Design Education Exchange Agreement)
16. Münster Art Academia/GERMANY
17. Arizona State University/USA, (Scientific and Cultural Collaboration Agreement)
18. Houston University/USA.
19. Hagen University/GERMANY
COMPUTERS AND LIBRARY SERVICES IN ANADOLU UNIVERSITY
Nearly all faculties and schools at Anadolu University have their own computer labs. Over fifty hundred computers are used by the faculty and produces and develops programs for the distance education students to be delivered via Internet. All departments of Anadolu have high-speed Internet connections.
The Library and Documentation Center is one of the most vital units of Anadolu University. The library is open for ninety hours per week, and is the second in Turkey based on serving hours. The Center is spread on a 12 thousand square meters, has ten reading and study halls with a total of 700-seat capacity. In addition, it houses two exhibit halls. Each year, at least 10 thousand new books are added to the collection. Currently, the library has over 160 thousand books.
In addition to printed volumes, nearly eight thousand on-line journals can be reached via the databases over the Internet (Science Direct is one of these databases). The Center also has a CD-Network System, which provides information sources (Citation Index type)
RESEARCH PROJECTS AND PUBLISHED ARTICLES
Anadolu University has provided 3.9 trillion TLs for 63 research projects in 2003. In 2004, 6.5 trillion TLs have been granted for 142 research projects. 2.5 trillion TLs will be granted for the projects, which are currently being reviewed.
Each year, nearly more than one hundred articles authored by our faculty members are published in international journals cited by the Art and Humanities and Social Sciences Indexes.
FACULTY MEMBERS
The university has a total of 1729 faculty members of which 147 are full professors, 88 associated professors, 372 assistant professors, 489 lecturers, 180 research assistants, 141 instructors, and 39 assistant staff.
OPEN EDUCATION SYSTEM OF ANADOLU UNIVERSITY
Anadolu University has been providing higher education opportunities through
distance education since 1982 (with the establishment of Open Faculty)
to those who could not otherwise continue their education. With associate
degree, bachelor’s degree and degree completion programs, Open Faculty
provides equal educational opportunities for many people thus helping
raise the educational levels of Turkish citizens.
The Open Faculty, in addition to degree programs, provides educational services to different profession fields through special projects. Some of the professions for which education services have been provided include teachers, health workers, agriculture, theology, Turkish Air Force, Turkish Army, Turkish Navy, Turkish Gendarme and Turkish Police Department.
When Open Faculty was established in 1982-1983, approximately 15 thousand students were expected to enroll in the Departments of Economics and Business Management. However, the number of enrolling students was beyond the expectations totaling 29,500.
IMPROVEMENTS IN OPEN EDUCATION SYSTEM
The demand for higher education opportunities provided by the Open Faculty via distance education increased between the years 1982 and 1993. The reason for this increased interest was the high quality education we provided.
Between these years, Open Faculty, in addition to the bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business, offered a degree completion program for 200 thousand teachers in accordance with the protocol signed with the Ministry of Education. Protocols were also signed with Ministry of Health to offer associate degree programs in midwifery, nursing and health technicians, and with Ministry of Agriculture to offer associate degree programs in veterinary sciences and agriculture.
The Open Faculty also extended its services to Turkish citizens living in Western Europe and The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
In 1993, with the Regulation number 496, the Open Faculty was restructured based on the new educational needs of Turkey. The Economics and Business Administration departments became faculties offering four-year bachelor’s degree programs. Open Faculty, on the other hand, was furnished with the right to offer associate degree programs, certificate programs, and degree completion programs in addition to bachelor’s degree programs via distance education.
Now, Anadolu University is considered as one of the mega universities in the world, because it has 22 bachelors and associate degree programs with nearly 870 thousand enrolled students and 651,558 graduates.
The distance education programs offered by the Department of Business Administration in the Faculty of Business Administration and the Departments of Economics, Labor Economics and Industrial Relations, Public Administration, and Public Finance in the Faculty of Economics provide opportunities to many students continue their higher education.
Open Faculty offers associate degree programs in the following areas: 1) Social Sciences, Home Management, Foreign Trade, Tourism and Hotel Management, Banking and Insurance, Office Management and Secretarial Training, Accounting, Management of Health Institutions, Public Relations, Local Governments and Information Management (over the Internet) Programs within the Economics and Administration Program, 2) Midwifery, Nursing and Health Technicians within the Health Program, 3) Theology, Agriculture and Health within the Continues Education Program, 4) Tourism and Hotel Management, and Foreign Trade within the West Europe Programs. In addition, Open High School Program provides high school education to those who were not able to go to high school.
The special projects the Open Faculty has currently undertaken are the associate degree programs in Health, Agriculture, Veterinary Sciences, and Theology, bachelor’s degree programs in English Language Teaching and Pre-School Teaching, Second University opportunity, Internet based Information Management, two-year training for the Turkish Air Force, Army, Navy, Gendarme and Police.
THE COMPONENTS OF OPEN EDUCATION SYSTEM
As Anadolu University, we believe in student-centered education. This holds true for distance education programs as well. Therefore, the contents of all learning materials are designed so that students can learn by themselves. The learning materials in the distance education system are textbooks, TV programs, academic advising services, videoconferences, computer and the Internet based applications. In addition, students are provided with sample tests and student support systems.
Printed Materials
Textbooks constitute the core material of distance education. Textbooks
are designed with advanced educational technologies in such a way that
students can learn by themselves, and are in accord with the Internet
and TV programs. There are over 500 different books written for the Open
Faculty courses, which are printed at the University. Each year, approximately
5 million books are sent to students. Over 1000 faculty members, who have
expertise in their field, author and/or edit textbooks (Bodur, 2002).
Radio and TV Programs
A team of experts in educational technology and technical staff with the
help of technologically advanced equipment play an important role in the
production of radio and TV programs which supplement the textbooks.
There is a collaborative work to produce the radio and TV programs. The program coordinators, editors, screen writers and directors work together to create the scenario, produce and deliver programs which would best help students in learning.
Over the past two decades, approximately 5000 TV programs have been produced for the distance education programs. 508 faculty members have presented the course material on the TV programs which are broadcasted on TRT 4. TV programs are broadcasted 24 weeks per year, 37 hours per week, a total of 888 hours per year. Each program is broadcasted at least twice a year (Curabay ve Demiray, 2002).
The radio programs are broadcasted on TRT Radio 1. The number of radio programs produced has reached 400.
Live Programs
Since 1999, to help students prepare for the upcoming exams, exam-preparation
programs are broadcasted. Taped programs for one week and live programs
for one week are broadcasted on TRT 4 before the midterms and final exams.
In the live programs students can call an 800 number (which is free) to
ask questions. Thus Anadolu University is the first institution to offer
an interactive education system via TV (Ozgur, 2000).
News from Our University
To establish a way of communication between our students in distance learning
programs and the university, notifying students about the happenings on
the campus, enabling students to get to know their university and program
better, a program called ‘News from our university’ has been
being broadcasted since 1998. It is a 10-minute program broadcasted every
other week throughout the academic year.
Videoconferences
Videoconference is the component of distance education of Anadolu University.
Anadolu University by collaborating with other universities delivers videoconferences
via terrestrial lines and satellite. In the year 1999, the students in
the Economy Departments of Ahmet Yesevi International Turk Kazak University
in Kazakhstan took the marketing course from Anadolu University via video
conferencing system. Today, the students in NCTR take the 18-hour academic
advising in a week via videoconferences applications (Ozkul, 2002).
Academic Advising Services
The academic advising service is one of the most important elements of
the distance education system of Anadolu University. In this system, distance
students have chances to collaborate with other students and professors
face-to-face to learn more deeply. The main purpose of this service is
to meet professors from all over Turkey and students to communicate each
other (Serter ve Çekerol, 2002). Over 600 professors in the 65
different city centers implement the academic advising services for 10
courses in evenings and weekends today.
Computer/Internet-Based Education Services
interact with computers in the Business, Economic and Open Education Faculty
in 1994. These services are a first and most important application computer
based education in Turkey. The students in open education can access some
courses on the Internet and work themselves by interacting computer. The
computer-based centers are established in different cities, and all labs
have Internet connections (CBE Handbook, 1996). The students can interact
with computers, such as private tutor to talk what they have to do, over
and over.
The main target of Anadolu University is that all students have their own computers with Internet connections. Therefore, Anadolu University can be one of the pioneer institutions in Turkey to switch a knowledge-based society. In the year 1999, “the Internet-Based Trial Exams” applications started to help students get ready for the exams. The students can reach hundreds questions interactively if they access the system after writing their IDs and passwords. There are 12.000 questions in the question bank for the Internet-Based Trial Exams. 245.000 students has enrolled the system, and taken 9 million exams over the systems since at the beginning of this service (Ozkul, 2002). The trial exams are updated based on upgraded textbooks and the numbers of the students. At the end of this school year, it is planned to add sixty hundred questions for 30 different courses into system.
Drill and Practices Software
The Drill and Practices Projects of the open Education System of Anadolu
University is an interactive application to serve a new learning setting
based on the developments on information and communication technologies
to distance students.
In the year 2003, the first drill and practice software developed in this project was General Accounting. With this software, to join this application, the distance education students can follow the course content, solve the question examples, test themselves via interacting with this multimedia environment, which is embedded TV video, audio, text, graphic, animation, etc. This service can create interactive multimedia environment and merge traditional and new communication environments together. With this new service, the distance education students can solve various numbers of examples and questions based on the contents in the textbooks and TV programs to understand the topics deeply and get ready for the exams.
Now, a twenty- unit course in this practice and drill software, as also defined the rich content education software, has nearly 410 question samples. In this system, the ten courses are developed and then delivered on the Internet in the 2003-2004 academic year. It is also planning to increase the number of examples in this system gradually (Mutlu, 2004).
Textbooks and TV Programs on the Internet
The e-book projects started in the 2003-2004 school year. Each distance course textbook is converted to PDF file and then delivered on the Internet. Therefore, the students can reach the course materials before getting their printed course materials.
In the 2003-2004 school year. TV programs are delivered on the Internet.Therefore, the students can easily access the textbooks and TV programs. Students can access the courses from their works or Internet cafes, and also have a chance to watch TV programs, study with multimedia software, test themselves via trial exams, and examine textbooks.
E-MBA Program
The e-MBA Program is the first and unique distance education master program
in Turkey.
This program is implemented in Business Administration based on the agreement
between Anadolu University and the State University of New York. Students
can get dual diplomas after completing their programs. The preparing steps
for this are almost done, and the first students will be enrolled the
program in the 2004-2005 school year.
The main target of Anadolu-SUNY, ESC e-MBA program is to globally educate
students
about business administration without time and place limitations.
Distance Class Applications
The Open Education Faculty of Anadolu University starts to deliver an
interactive virtual class application for Distance English Teacher Training
(DELTT) Program in the year 2003-2004 academic year. With this application,
course professors interact with their students on the virtual class environment
(Ozkul, 2004).
The Investments for the Internet Substructure
There is a huge demand to access the trail exams, drill and practices
software, textbooks and TV programs delivered on the Internet, especially
before the exams. The computer based education center was completed all
investments for the Internet substructure to meet this demand effectively.
These services are delivered via three big server having 30 processors.
For this reason, it is used 32 Mbit bandwidths on the Ulaknet and 4 Mbit
on TT-NET. It is planning to reach 90 % of the target audience of Internet-based
education of Anadolu University at the end of the year 2006. In this case,
over one million students will be using the Internet as an educational
environment by the time.
Test Research Center
Text Research Center was established in 1997. The main duty of this center
is to produce qualitative and reliable tests to evaluate student-learning
levels. In this center, the question experts write questions, and then
the content experts work on the questions based on test plans and evaluation
techniques. These tests and their answers developed by the content experts
via the question banks are evaluated scientifically. Now, there are over
100.000 questions in the Question Bank. After revising and making all
corrections carefully, the tests are given permission for printing. The
tests prepared by the content experts are printed in the printing house
of Anadolu University, and then sent to the exam centers safely.
Exam Services
Anadolu University organizes all exams for the distance education students.
In the 2002-2003 school year, Anadolu University arranged its biggest
exam organization in April. The exams for the 322 courses with the 112
different question books were happen in the 88 exam centers in the 81
cities. 1,622,907 students took these exams in the four different sessions,
and 192K staff was charged for the exams (Ozkazanc, 2004).
Bureaus and Student Services
The distance students in the Open education system of Anadolu University
can enroll the programs, get their books, communicate with the main campus
via totally 88 the Open education Bureaus, with the 86 bureaus in the
79 cities in Turkey, one bureau in Lefkosa of North Cyprus Turkish Republic
and the one in Köln in Germany.
The most of these bureaus served in the rented buildings few years ago. However, the University bought the 63 of them, and reconstructed them based on the missions and visions of Anadolu University. To reflect the institutional identity of Anadolu University, we are very carefully about to serve our students.
Anadolu University has done all its duties successfully so far. Indeed, the open education system is the key solution on Turkish educational problems, because Anadolu University has a potential to solve the problems easily and product new reliable solutions in a short time. Open and distance education are the education system for future. We have to take advantage of the opportunities and equal educational rights provided by Anadolu University, if we target to be a developed country. For this reason, we are working very hard to improve our open education system.
We are being encouraged to improve our system by our stakeholders with their positive feedback. On the other hand, to answer today’s educational needs in a best way, we work continuously to reconstruct our open education system to integrate the cutting-edge technologies. For example, the Information Center and the Printing House of Anadolu University are improving their technologies.
Nowadays, the live interactive broadcastings with traditional TV programs are becoming important. For this reasons, TRT and Turkish TELEKOM Company do collaboration to make possible some projects, such as the satellite capacities, education channel, etc. If these attempts bring to live, Anadolu University increases the usage of new technologies to play our roles actively in the Turkish education system. Besides, we open the graduate programs with Köln University via international agreements. Finally, the master programs in English and Turkish will be stared in a short time via our distance education system.
The Open Education of Anadolu University is a system, which accomplishes very difficult and big organization. Also, our target is to reconstruct our system to provide better educational services in different areas.
REFERENCES
Anadolu University Handbook, 2004.
Bodur, Feyyaz. “Anadolu Üniversitesi Uzaktan Egitim Sisteminde
Basili Ders Malzemelerinin Basim ve Dagitim Organizasyonlari”, Uluslararasi
Katilimli Açik ve Uzaktan Egitim Sempozyumu, 2002.
Curabay Sensu and Emine Demiray, 20. Kurulus Yilinda Anadolu Üniversitesi
Açikögretim Sistemi ve Açikögretim Fakültesi
Egitim Televizyonu (ETV), Eskisehir: Anadolu Üniversitesi Yayinlari,
2003.
Mutlu, Mehmet Emin. Internet Tabanli Alistirma Yazilimlari Bülteni,
2004
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Arasinda Etkilesime Yönelik Olarak Canli Yayinlarin Kullanilmasi
ve Açikögretim Fakültesi Uygulamalari” Ankara:
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Özkazanç, Önder. “Açikögretimde Sinavlarin
Dünü ve Bugünü”, Uluslararasi Katilimli Açik
ve Uzaktan Egitim Sempozyumu, 2002.
Özkul, Ali Ekrem, Anadolu Üniversitesi Açikögretim
Fakültesi Uzaktan Egitim Sempozyumu Açilis Konusmasi, 2002.
_______________. Sanal Sinif Uygulamalari Bülteni, 2004.