A study on the reasons of the adults to prefer open and distance learning by their demographics with the andragogical approach

The concept of education and learning is in a great change within this century. This change is significantly affected by many fields as sociology, transportation, economics, technology, informatics and communication. As this great change is taken into consideration,' expectations of individuals for the education increase a lot. The facility of receiving information and the intensive tempo in our daily lives eliminates the time and learning environments problems of learners. Open and distance education for its many features, advantageous particularly for adult learning is becoming more of an issue. Thereby, the aim of this study is to investigate the reasons of the adults to prefer open and distance learning by their demographics such as age, gender, level of income, occupation, marital status and location with an andragogical approach. Essentially andragogy is the art and science of supporting the adult learning. The adult learning with andragogical approach should have some features such as to provide immediate solutions for everyday life problems, the adults need to be involved in the each phase of the learning process, the learning process can be pursued with the adults' everyday life responsibilities, the adults use their experiences as the basis for the learning activities and provides different learning needs related to individual differences. The participants of the study are 4247 students enrolled to Open Education Faculty of Anadolu University, filling the survey and the answers of those acceptable. In this study, mixed method based on quantitative research has been used. Over the time of the study, firstly the literature of open and distance learning was analysed. Then, the survey was prepared. The open and distance education professionals and the students were offered for their consideration of the survey. By their remarks the survey was completed and the Open Education Faculty students fill in the online survey. At the end of data collection period it was seen that the reasons for open and distance learning preferences are in common for both quantitative and qualitative findings. This finding indicates that the adults prefer the open and distance learning not only because of the difficulties in learning and reaching learning environments or limited facilities of face-to-face education but because of its features in functional flexibility, service varieties and supplying new opportunities. The adults defined that they choose open and distance learning due to its flexibility, pursuing new carriers, lifelong learning and self-improvement. Besides, when the suggestions of the adults about the open and distance learning analyzed as a qualitative data, it has been understood that the level of the awareness and consciousness of the adults is significantly high. The importance of the study for the field, the professionals of the field get a view about the reasons of the preferences and thoughts of the students about the field, and in accordance with this, new regulations and learning activities and environments can be enhanced.