Although online distance education provides adult learners with an opportunity for life-long learning, there are still factors challenging them to engage in educational processes. The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges faced by adult learners in online distance education through the analysis of the relevant literature. The articles (N=36) published in the key journals in the fields of open and distance education, instructional technology, and adult education were reviewed and analyzed through constant comparative analysis in the current study. The findings reveal that adult learners have challenges related to internal, external, and program-related factors indicating the interrelated nature of these challenges. The findings also show that the challenges experienced by adult learners vary depending on their age, gender, knowledge and skills as well as the context in which they study. The findings of this study, which has an exploratory nature, have several implications for distance education stakeholders such as administrators, instructors, instructional designers, and policy makers.

No abstract

No abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore non-thesis Master’s students’ perceptions and expectations of good tutors and advisors in distance education programmes. It also examined whether these perceptions and expectations are related to student characteristics including age, gender, university, programme, semester, and previous online learning experience. The current study was conducted within the framework of Transactional Distance Theory. Using a mixed methods approach, a questionnaire was administered to 143 students in four programmes in two universities in Turkey and interviews were conducted with 11 of these students. Results showed that good tutors and advisors in distance education provide a stimulating student-centred learning environment, have a caring and individualised interaction and communication with students, and have subject expertise and basic technology skills. The results of this study will improve distance education tutors and advisors’ practices in supporting graduate students’ education and research.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This study aims to validate a recent new media literacy (NML) instrument and investigating NML levels of Turkish preservice teachers. A refined NML framework formed the theoretical basis of the study. The data were collected from 972 preservice teachers enrolled in 11 teacher training programs in 5 public universities in Turkey. The language equivalency, construct validity, internal consistency, item consistency, and item discrimination were provided for the validity and reliability of the adapted scales. The results indicated that preservice teachers had the highest level of literacy in Functional Consuming Skills and the lowest level of literacy in Critical Prosuming Participation while differences were found in terms of gender and teacher training program. The results also expanded the new media literature and promoted the generalizability of the current NML framework with the participation of preservice teachers while producing similar findings with those of the previous ones.