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Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been around for some time, but several studies highlighted different issues associated with them, including quality. The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed their second blooming, where MOOCs have seen a surge in enrollments since March 2020. This study intended to explore how this enrollment reflected on the research studies included in scientific publications, indexed by Web of Science. Specifically, the bibliometric mapping analyses of 108 studies have revealed an ongoing trend in the countries contributing to the MOOCs research, namely USA, China, UK and Spain. Additionally, MOOCs research coming from US, UK and other western countries was decreasing before the pandemic and showed a continuous dramatic reduction also during the COVID-19 pandemic. Growing attention in MOOCs research among less represented countries was also observed. Besides, most of the topics focused on by MOOCs research during the pandemic were mainly related to education and engineering.

This paper explores elements of open education within the context of higher education. After an introduction to the origins of open education and its theoretical foundations, the topics of open and distance learning, international education issues in open education, open educational practices and scholarship, open educational resources, MOOCs, prior learning accreditation and recognition, and learner characteristics are considered, following the framework of macro, meso, and micro levels of research in open and distance learning. Implications for future research at the macro, meso, and micro levels are then provided. [The authors of this article belong to The COER Group, Center for Open Education Research (COER), University of Oldenburg, Germany.]

This manuscript intends to elaborate the current status of MOOC movement in the world and to reveal the results of a survey study in which the Turkish higher education institutions' reactions to this movement was investigated. The survey was actually a part of a larger survey study that, as a deliverable of the EU funded HOME project, was conducted to contribute to the literature by providing an insight about European perspectives on MOOCs, to gain a better understanding of the strategic reasons why a higher education institution is or isn't involved in MOOCs, and to compare these reasons with the results of similar studies in U.S. After a brief background and history of MOOC movement, following sections of the manuscript present the details (methodology and results) of the survey study on the Turkish HE institutions' strategies regarding adaptation of MOOCs. The final part of the manuscript consists of discussions and conclusions drawn in the light of the results of the study.

The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) movement is the latest "big thing" in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) which threatens to transform Higher Education. Both opportunities and threats are extensively discussed in literature, comprising issues on opening up education for the whole world, pedagogy and online versus campus education. Most of the literature focus on the origin of the MOOC movement in the US. The specific context of Europe with on the one hand autonomous countries and educational systems and on the other hand cross-border cooperation and regulations through the European Union differs from the US context. This specific context can influence the way in which the MOOC movement affect education in Europe, both reusing MOOCs from other continents (US) as publishing MOOCs, on a European platform or outside of Europe. In the context of the EU funded HOME project, a research was conducted to identify opportunities and threats of the MOOC movement on the European institutions of higher education. Three sources of data were gathered and analysed. Opportunities and threats were categorized in two levels. The macro level comprises issues related to the higher education system, European context, historical period and institutional level. The micro level covers aspects related to faculty, professors and courses, thus to the operational level. The main opportunities mentioned were the ECTS system as being a sound base for formal recognition of accomplishments in MOOCs, the tendency to cooperate between institutions, stimulated by EU funded programs and the many innovative pedagogical models used in MOOCs published in Europe. The main threats mentioned were a lacking implementation of the ECTS system, hindering bridging non/formal and formal education and too much regulation, hindering experimenting and innovation.

Much of the literature and the academic discussion about institutional strategic planning of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) has been centred on the U.S. context. Literature on MOOCs in Europe is still developing and just recently some empirical studies were conducted. However, these studies are not comparable, and it is hard to learn about differences between regions and types of educational institutions. Given the very different institutional, political and cultural contexts, it is interesting to analyse how in these two different regions Higher Education institutions (HEIs) are responding to the challenges of the MOOC phenomena and are integrating it in their own strategic planning. The current research presents the first attempt to conduct a comparative study of institutional MOOC strategies in Europe and U.S. It is based on a survey launched by the EU-funded HOME project and compares results with a similar survey conducted in U.S. Results show that there are significant differences in how the U.S. and European HEIs understand the impact of massive open education and also how they perceive the efficiency of digital education and online learning.

This paper presents a content analytic approach on doctoral dissertations in the field of distance education in Turkish Higher Education context from the years of 1986 through 2014. A total of 61 dissertations were examined to explore keywords, academic discipline, research areas, theoretical/conceptual frameworks, research designs, research models, tests and analyses, data collection tools, participants, variables/research interests, and leading contributor institutions. It is believed that this study can be beneficial to the field of distance education in Turkish context to identify research trends and set a research agenda by exploring dissertations that were published between 1986 and 2014.

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for the accreditation of higher open and distance learning (ODL) programs in Turkey. The study was designed as a sequential monomethod multistrand mixed model including two strands which were both qualitative (QUAL[arrow right]QUAL). In the first strand, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a three-round Delphi study with an expert panel consisting of 28 experts. In the second strand, qualitative data were collected via focus group interview. Based on a comprehensive literature review and the findings from the study, a framework was proposed including an initial accreditation process for new ODL programs and a re-accreditation process for ongoing programs. In addition, 35 criteria for new programs and 42 criteria for ongoing programs were developed to be used in the accreditation process. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

3D virtual worlds can and have been used as a meeting place for distance education courses. Virtual worlds allow for group learning of the kind enjoyed by students gathered in a virtual classroom, where they know they are in a communal space, they are aware of the social process of learning and are affected by the presence and behaviour of their fellow students and tutor. Traditional ethnography has been adjusted to virtual environments and much research on this issue has been carried out under the umbrella of virtual ethnography. The increase in diverse Internet applications can be pointed out as the cause of this inclination and increase. In this study, the authors explain the method of virtual ethnography in detail, inform about data gathering instruments such as participatory virtual observation, online and offline (face to face) interviews touch upon ethical questions related to field studies and highlight the elements that call for attention in the use of virtual ethnography in distance education studies. (Contains 1 table.)

Developments in computer-mediated communications are not only providing new opportunities for educators but also changing roles and competencies in learning and teaching environments. Experts agree that teaching online requires different roles and competencies. The literature includes several studies on roles and competencies for online teaching. However, as Le Boterf underlines, roles and competencies largely depend on context. This survey study intends to identify roles, competencies and resources for online teaching in Turkey by asking online mentors of Anadolu University what they think about the roles they should perform and the competencies and resources they should possess in order to teach online successfully. Results have shown that the participant Turkish online mentors agree on the significance of the assessor, the content expert and process facilitator roles; on the other hand, they indicate lower level of necessity for the material producer and the administrator roles. Results have also revealed lack of design competencies among online mentors. Overall, the study has supported Le Boterf's claim about importance of context on identification of roles and competencies. (Contains 8 tables and 1 figure.)

Technological advances allow open and distance learning (ODL) providers to offer all kinds of interaction opportunities for their students. In Turkey, different institutions adopt different interaction types in ODL services mostly because of legal procedures and a shortage of experience in ODL. Learning more about students' preferences and needs might be helpful for achieving better satisfaction and deeper learning. The scarcity of research on distance learners' preferences of interaction type was the main motive for this study. Thus, this study aims to investigate the interaction preferences of ODL learners and explore the interactions between these preferences and their demographic characteristics. An online questionnaire based on the Interaction Equivalency Theorem was implemented to the 696 ODL learners in one of the major ODL providers in Turkey. The results revealed that learners mostly preferred to interact more with the content in their distance courses while they asked for more interaction with the instructors in the face-to-face courses. Analyses showed no statistically significant relationship between interaction type preferences, and gender, number of children, and marital status. However, a statistically significant relationship was observed between the interaction type preferences of the learners and their age, occupation, admission type, and place of residence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines cross-cultural interpretations of icons and images drawn from US academic websites. Participants from Morocco, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and the USA responded to an online questionnaire containing 18 icons and images representing online functions and information types common on US academic websites. Participants supplied meanings for icons and images and selected a preferred image to represent each of four specific online functions. From three images of professors, participants chose one with whom they would prefer to study. Data were collected at the University of New Mexico, USA; in Internet cafes in the Middle Atlas region and at Al-Akhawayn University, Morocco; the Open University of Sri Lanka in Nawala, Nugegoda; and at Anadolu University, Turkey. A qualitative analysis examines participants' perspectives and preferences for specific representations and identifies cultural themes in relation to Hofstede's dimensions. Implications for the design of images for cross-cultural users are discussed. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

Anadolu University in Turkey is one of the world's largest and least known mega-universities. Well over one million students in Turkey, the European Union and Northern Cyprus are enrolled in its Open Education System and yet few accounts of this dual-mode provider appear in the international literature. This article describes the evolution of the Anadolu Open Education System, explains how the Open Education Faculty operates and is now engaged in e-transformation, and considers the current and future issues confronting the institution. (Contains 2 tables.)

In order to benefit from e-learning, companies should conduct considerable up-front analysis to assess their readiness. There are a number of instruments in the market that can be used for assessing readiness for e-learning. However, almost all of these instruments are developed to be used in countries that have a mature field of human resources development. So, these instruments consist of terms, phrases, and applications that are meaningless for many companies in especially emerging countries where human resources development field has just shown an improvement. This article includes the description of a survey instrument that has been developed to assess e-learning readiness of companies in these kinds of countries and the results of a study that examines organizational readiness of companies for e-learning in Turkey. The study reveals that companies surveyed are overall ready for e-learning but they need to improve need to improve themselves, particularly in the area of human resources, in order to be able to successfully implement e-learning. Although this instrument has been developed according to the cultural characteristics of Turkish companies it can easily be adapted to be used by companies of other emerging countries. (Contains 9 tables and 1 figure.)

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are courses designed for large numbers of participants, that can be accessed by anyone anywhere as long as they have an internet connection, are open to everyone without entry qualifications, and offer a full/complete course experience online for free. A big majority of the early research conducted about MOOCs focused on identification of the characteristics of MOOC participants such as educational levels, demographic characteristics, learning strategies, and so forth. However, no study has noticed about the MOOC participants' categories of innovativeness such as "Innovators", "Early Adopters", "Early Majority", "Late Majority" and "Laggards". This study intended to reveal the Turkish participants' innovativeness profiles and their demographic characteristics in MOOCs offered in Turkish. It was expected to discover a list of ideas for designing effective MOOCs. The study was conducted in 4 MOOCs offered via Anadolu University's MOOCs platform, AKADEMA; an online questionnaire including the Individual Innovativeness Scale was used to collect data. The results have uncovered that although the participants have shown a variety of innovativeness profiles, quite a number of them shown 'early majority' and 'late majority' characteristics. Relationships between this result and the participants' demographics were also investigated. There was no relationship between participants' innovativeness levels and demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and education levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition from traditional learning to open up education, the equality, openness and access has been reached for all learners without any time and distance limitations. Although this transition happens all around to world to underline equality in learning, the principles of online pedagogy and restructure on pedagogical and organizational levels come into the consideration. Access, openness and the equality for learning confirm the essence of active dialogue and engagement of learners to enrich transferable skills within the life. Higher education institutions turn attention on massive open online courses (MOOCs) as part of the transformation in education by focusing on innovation and strategic opportunity in education. The literature has pointed out that MOOCs are providing educational opportunities for lifelong learners and become solution for inclusion in learning. While engaging online learning process, student support is the crucial element to provide active participation and match learners' needs and expectations during the process. Within a framework of online pedagogy, learner development is challenging pattern and heart of the online practices which mainly three components have been underlined: (1) student support, (2) institutional support, and (3) teaching learning process including assessment as learning procedure in higher education. This study aims to provide an example of open resources education course for orthopedically disabled learners which online training course supports learners and their families for their professional development within a frame of counseling and guidance. The study is significant to underline the principles of online pedagogy within the process and enrich abilities of learners including family members in particular contents. Furthermore, the study shows how open education resources could be motivation for social learning within the life as part of the life-long learning philosophy. In addition to that, it contributes to underline the success of effective pedagogy in online context for learners with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to determine principles that will guide open and distance learning institutions in the world and in Turkey to establish and improve their internal quality assurance systems. In this regard, internal quality assurance processes of three open and distance learning institutions which possess successful open and distance learning practices were examined. The study was designed as holistic multiple case study. In order to reflect the differences in the quality assurance practices, purposeful sampling method was used and three open universities possessing different characteristics from three different regions, which were America (Canada), Europe (Spain) and Asia-Pacific (Japan), were examined. Data were gathered through site visits, semi-structured and unstructured interviews, and documents. As a consequence, some guiding principles were determined and recommendations were made for the establishment, implementation and development of internal quality assurance systems in open and distance learning institutions both in Turkey and the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Selcuk University Social Sciences Institute Journal is the property of Selcuk University Social Sciences Institute Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)