Students' and teaching staff's assessments regarding distance education applications in formal education

The study was conducted with the aim of evaluating distance education applications in formal education from the viewpoints of students and teaching staff. Accordingly, five teaching staff offering distance learning courses at a university located in eastern part of Turkey were interviewed. Interviews were also made with six students who were enrolled in formal education at that university and were taking courses in distance format. In this study, ‘case study’ method as one of the qualitative research designs was used for a holistic and indepth examination of the problems encountered in distance education applications in formal education. Data were analyzed with content analysis. The findings related to students resulted in four categories with 20 codes falling under these categories. Similarly, the findings obtained from teaching staff yielded four categories with 25 codes under these categories. This study is considered to guide the educational institutions that are planning to adopt distance education or those that have just adopted distance education. It is also deemed to help institutions take precautions related to the possible problems that can be faced in distance education applications