Distance learning in ITU: pilot projects and their implications

This paper introduces Istanbul Technical Universities´ (ITU) pioneering distance learning (DL) projects, on both national and international basis, and discusses their effects on the overall quality of undergraduate education in Turkey. Synchronous DL projects conducted on ITU´s existing intercampus network is presented first, with an emphasis on infrastructure; video over IP solutions in local and wide area and ongoing wireless-based projects. Web-based asynchronous teaching projects which has become the integral part of ITU undergraduate education is also presented. A creative ISDN-based live course exchange project between ITU and University of Virginia, which has been ongoing for two consecutive years, is introduced. A group of novel partially DL-based pilot projects between ITU and the State University of New York, aiming at issuing joint undergraduate degrees on areas of Information Technology, Business/Economics, Maritime Engineering and Fashion Design are also presented with some details of infrastructure, means and objectives. The pros and cons of the technologically-mediated undergraduate science and engineering education is discussed based on ITU experience accumulated through above-mentioned projects, together with some predictions of possible social impacts of experimented DL models on the public sphere of an emerging economy like Turkey.