The factors having effect on productivity in lectures via video-conferencing

This study aims to find out perspectives of faculty members, assistants and students who have experienced distance education via video-conferencing and the factors having effect on productivity.In this study, case study which is one of the qualitative research designs is adopted. Data were collected through interviews, unstructured observations and observation forms which present much more in-depth information about interactivity. The participants were selected by purposive sampling. The sample consists of eight students at Urban and Regional Planning Programme, Department of Architecture, Karadeniz Technical University, who take courses from Middle East Technical University via video-conferencing and faculty members who give lectures, and also assistants sharing the same educational environment. Collected data in the study was analyzed by content analysis method and interpreted with relevant charts and tables.Findings reveal that factors affecting productivity in distance education via video-conferencing are as follows: technical matters like bandwidth, poor sound quality, disconnection, image definition, camera features and shooting angles; student profiles, presence of assistant, access to experts, acquaintance with teacher, not getting used to the environment, order of class environment, not making eye contact, not recognizing mimics and gestures, teachers? attitudes to motivate students for course, impossibility of out-of-class interaction, teachers? equipments, methods and techniques, course materials.