STUDENT VIEWS ON TURKISH OPEN HIGH SCHOOL

One of the dimensions of distance education, which has a variety of names defined by different authors (Karen at all 2009; Reid at all 2009; Alston, and Kent, 2008; Huett at all, 2008; Özerbaş, 1998; Sujatha 2002,etc.), in literature such as open learning, open teaching, non-traditional education, distance learning, distance teaching, correspondence education, virtual high school, independent study, home study and etc. is open high school which is examined in this paper. The main reasons of the students to enroll open high school are the willingness to complete secondary education, to attend university, to increase their knowledge, and also to have statute and to have important social roles in the society (Adıyaman, 1997). By its nature open high school should be linked with educational media. In this respect, it was constituted by the Ministry of Education, General Directorate of Education Technologies, which was already designing and producing educational media then (Uluğ, 1994). The aims of Turkish open high school, which are identified in the fifth article of the regulation of open high school, are (1) to provide the opportunity of education in different fields to those who graduate from elementary education however can not continue to secondary education and quit/graduate from the secondary education and who quit/graduate from universities, (2) to contribute the equality of opportunity in the level of secondary education and to raise and reinforce the level of culture of Turkish society, and (3) to equip the students for life and university education through the usage of high-tech mass communication tools and new technologies, which is high level reviewed in this paper.  In this regard the reasons of the students to enroll to open high school, the quality of the services provided, views of the students about the applications, legal basis of open high school, and problems which occur in the praxis are discussed.

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