What do teachers and learners think about distance education of the course of principles of Atatürk and history of Turkish revolution: A single case study

Founders of new Turkish Republic aimed at founding a modern, democratic and national state in the place of Ottoman Empire partited after World War I. They introduced broad range of reforms in the fields of politics, social, economy and culture in line with this aim in the foundation phase. For the purpose of raising generations as required by republican regime, firstly the law on unification of education was adopted by the parliament then Turkish Alphabet was introduced and consequently National Schools were opened for teaching of the new Turkish letters to these generations. These founders of Turkish Republic attempted to heighten the awareness of public from the cities to the countries and to raise modern and conscious generations as required by republican regime by founding Public Education Centers in 1932 for the purpose of spreading the modernisation ideology of Turkish Republic to the public. While such actions were being performed, in the meantime Ataturk's Principles and History of Turkish Revolution lesson was introduced for spreading Ataturk's system of thought to the young generations and public, presenting Turkish Revolution's actualisation passing through which phases and comparing Turkish revolution with the revolutions of the other countries. Ataturk's Principles and History of Turkish Revolution courses have been thought as it has been far beyond than the standart history course. basics of Ataturk's Principles and History of Turkish Revolution course taught in secondary education and universities have come from the year 1925. In fact the first course was given by Yusuf Hikmet Bayur, that period's minister of education in History of Turkish Revolution Institute opened in Istanbul University established instead of Darulfunun with the result of the university reform. The condition of course's being given more systematically started from the academic year of 1934-1935. The sole responsibility of this course has been given to the History of Turkish Revolution Institute affiliated to Ankara University Faculty of Language, History and Geography since 1942. On the other hand democrat party came into power with the elections of 14th May 1950 was eased out from the power as a result of the military coup of 27th May 1960. The course was named as "History of Turkish Revolution" and "Regime of Turkish Republic" after the military coup of the 1960. The course's name was changed into " History of Turkish Revolution" affected by 1968 protests depending upon the conjuncture in the world in later years and after the military coup under the leadership of Kenan Evren on 12th September 1980 the course was again named as "History of Turkish Revolution". The course became "Ataturk's Principles and History of Turkish Revolution" in 1981. Nowadays, the whole students of higher education registered in associate degree and undergraduate program must take this course. Although the course have not had the same excitement and enthusiasm as before, it has been continuing its' existence. University rectors and the institutions like Head of Ataturk's Principles and History of Turkish Revolution Department have been taking active role in determining the course's teaching method (distance education method or face to face training) in these days. In fact, this course has been given through distance education application in virtual environments in some public and private universities. On the contrary, the course has been given by face to face training method in some universities owning the value of this course. The purpose of this study is to evaluate Ataturk's Principles and History of Turkish Revolution course, carried out by distance education application in the public university established in 1992 in Aegean Region, at the heart of students' and academicians' thought. Especially, 8 academicians' giving this course and 105 students' taking this course opinions have been taken and this course has been evaluated basing on 2017-2018 Academic Year. The data has been collected by semi-structured interview method in this research designed in descriptive pattern. The study group has been consisted of 113 participants formed by 105 students and 8 academicians specified by maximum variation sampling method. the data obtained from the interviews has been evaluated through descriptive and content analysis. Some of the results deducted from the facts of the research are as in the below; More than half of the students' (F:65) not watching the videos of the course materials and topic summaries has been determined. While (F:16) students participated in this interview have stated that they have listened to the lesson carefully and found the course materials sufficient; it has been determined that 24 students have listened to the lesson but they have found it insufficient. The great part of the students' (F:99) asking no question to the academician has been determined. It has been detected that the great part of the students remained have been asking the questions about their personal rights instead of the lesson. Whereas it has been emphasized that the great number of the students (F:77) have the thought of face to face training is much better than the other methods; the students disagree with the others have supported the opposite due to the financial matters. According to the data obtained from the 105 students participated in this interview, %65 percentage of the students' not getting efficiency from the course has been determined. According to the 8 academicians' thoughts participated in this research, we can state these results. Hereunder, 3 academicians participated in this interview have stated that the distance education application has been approved by the university administration. starting from this point of view university administration. Therefore, university and the other universities' around of this university administrations have been affected by the political progresses. According to the findings, 2 academicians participated in this research have stated that the major factors of passing on the distance education application have been the increasing of the number of students and inadequate number of class. Regarding the data obtained from the students and the academicians, it has been determined that Ataturk's Principles and History of Turkish Revolution Course should be taught by face to face in classroom environment and with advanced written materials.