Historical Development of Distance Education in Turkey

Historical Development of
Distance Education in Turkey
(1924-1982)
Prof. Dr. Dursun Gökdağ
Anadolu University,
Faculty of Communication
dgokdag@anadolu.edu.tr
Development Phases of
Distance Education in Turkey
ϖThought phase (1924-1953)
ϖExperimentation phase (1953-1974)
ϖinstitutionalization phase (1974-1982)
ϖExpansion phase (1982- date)
Thought phase (1924-1953)
• DE suggestions were come from two
different sources in this period
• Invited foreign experts
• Ministry of National Education
Educational indicators
in Turkey in 1920’s
• Total population…..…… 11 million
• Literacy rate ……………. 10 %
• Number of schools ..…. 5000
• Number of students..… 360 000
• Number of teachers .…. 1200
Reports of Foreign Experts
• First expert invited was John Dewey. He in his
report titled “Report About Turkish Education”
suggested DE education as an alternative for teacher
education in 1924
• The second report was prepared by a commission in
1935. In that report, correspondence courses were
suggested for educating people living in such places
that was not feasible to establish schools
Debates in the National
Education Councils
• Scientist group meetings
• Corresponding education was suggested
to increase literacy level in 1927.
• National Education Councils (NEC)
• First NEC was gathered in 1939. DE was talked over
indirectly
• In the forth NEC in 1949, democracy education was
among the topics of its agenda. To do so, it was
suggested that
MONE should establish a special unit responsible for
mass education.
Experimentation phase
(1953–1974)
• Private Sector experimentations
• Banking Course organized by Ankara University Law Faculty
• 6th and 7th National Education Councils
• Establishment of Correspondence Teaching Centre
Experimentation phase
(1953–1974)
• Private Sector experimentations
• Limasollu Naci Publications
• Fono Distance Education
Organizations”.
Experimentation phase
(1953–1974)
• Banking Course
• organized by Ankara
University Law Faculty
Experimentation phase
(1953–1974)
• 6th and 7th National Education Councils
Experimentation phase
(1953–1974)
• Establishment of Correspondence Teaching Centre
Institutionalization Phase (1974 1982)
• Different organizations were interested in DE
• “Correspondence Higher Education Center” and
“Experimental Higher Teacher School”
• Estabilshed in 1974 and terminated in 1975
• Diffused Higher Education Organization
• Expanded in 1975 and terminated in 1979