Digital based in-service communication education: A model suggestion on communication education blog design

In the 21st century, in-service communication trainings have become an inevitable part of the working life; however a variety of restrictions are experienced when these trainings are meant to be given effectively because of the busy schedule in working life. Distance education methods which have acquired diversity with technological improvements have appeared as a solution for these restrictions, but there is not any specific standard for in-service communication trainings issue. In this study, it has been aimed to create a blog within the framework of learning and communication theories in order to give in-service communication trainings and to analyze the education given in this blog so that in-service communication trainings can be improved and a model can be suggested. The study has been carried out as a case study in three phases with the hotel staff working in Belek, Antalya. In the first phase, in order to analyze the target group before the blog education period and to provide readiness, a face to face education was given to the hotel staff. At the end of this face to face education, an assessment form for the education was submitted to the staff in order to learn their opinions on the education. In the second phase of the study, 24 days of digital based in-service communication training was observed through the blog created for the purpose of assessing the education process. The observation findings were examined within the frame of five dimensions determined earlier. In the last phase of the study, semi structured interviews were carried to detail the findings obtained from the observations. The acquired quantitative data were synthesized through the frequency analysis and the qualitative data were synthesized through descriptive analysis. Within the frame of these synthesized findings; three stages model has been suggested for in-service communication training with digital based learning. This suggested model contains pre-education, on-education and post-education processes. Giving content and technological education with a face to face education is important to provide readiness for the pre-education process. Meanwhile, technical and evaluation infrastructures have to be prepared by the organization. Furthermore; the part of the blog design which contains figure, content and environment design phases have to be completed in the pre-education process. Points to take into consideration are support of self-access learning, strengthen of interaction, providing the cooperative learning with activities in the second stage of the model. In the last stage of the model contains education continuity and evaluation techniques for after the education process. This education model has resulted in a more efficient digital-based in-service communication training by providing all these factors. It is suggested that the model should be tested in different areas and in public institutions to compare the results. Keywords: In-service Communication Training, Communication Training, Distance Education, Digital Based Learning.