Determining the accreditation standards for distance education programs in Turkey using Delphi technique

As there is an increase in the number of distance education programs, many people have concern about the quality of these offerings. Both state bodies and the public require information regarding the quality of distance education. Accreditation, in this regard, shows that a set of predetermined standards have been met by the institutions which hold ?accredited? status. Therefore, it is a convenient way for informing the related bodies and the public about the quality of the educational institution. In this study, it is aimed to determine the accreditation standards for distance education programs in Turkey.The research is a Delphi study which is completed in three rounds. In Delphi studies, a questionnaire is sent to a group of experts more than one time while informing the experts about the general tendency of the group at the end of each round. The aim in Delphi studies is to reach a consensus between the experts. For that purpose, 83 accreditation standards for distance education programs that have been derived from literature and divided into 10 categories have been evaluated by distance education experts using 5 point Likert-type scale. In first round 17 experts, in second round 15 experts, and in third round 16 experts participated in the study. Distance education experts were able to recommend amendments to the standards or add new standards in any category using the online system designed to evaluate the standards. The consensus criterion was defined as agreement of 70% of the experts and +/- 1 standard deviation interval for each standard that have been evaluated. At the end of the study, distance education experts defined a total of 94 accreditation standards under 10 categories to be used in the accreditation of distance education programs in Turkey. It is suggested that the standards should be used by the accrediting agency which may be established in the future and educational institutions in order to assess and develop the quality of their offerings.Key Words: Distance Education, Accreditation, Quality, Delphi Technique