EVALUATION OF AN ASSOCIATE DEGREE DISTANCE PROGRAM BASED ON STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE PROGRAM COMPONENTS

This study aimed to evaluate the Public Relations and Publicity associate degree distance program available to students through Open Education Faculty at Anadolu University, Turkey. The study used Erden's (1998) component-oriented model and a convergent mixed methods design employing an online questionnaire form. The study population included students who had "active student" status in the program during the spring semester 2017. The study sample consisted of 412 students, who submitted complete questionnaire forms. The responses to the closed-ended questions were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools and responses to the open-ended questions were analyzed using descriptive coding. The results showed that the participants had a high level of overall satisfaction with the program, and they particularly had more positive attitudes towards the e-learning platform among all the components. However, they had less positive attitudes towards the textbooks and the measurement and evaluation processes. In addition, the participants who stated that they used the e-learning platform had more positive attitudes towards all the components than the other groups in general. In the light of the results, some suggestions were made to improve the program like reviewing some of the program components such as the textbooks and measurement and evaluation practices.