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120 get the most from the Internet as an educational tool, while avoiding hidden pitfalls, such as bad and malicious information, and overcoming the problem of language?” The hope of the Portuguese community of Internet users is that more adequate responses to these challenges will be found, as the overall community, especially the education community, demonstrates eagerness to cope with the problems and find the right solutions. The Portuguese are fully committed to developing an information society and believe that such a endeavor is essential to Portugal’s future in the world.

Cândido Varela de Freitas [[email protected]] is Professor of Education at the University of Minho, Braga, Portugal. Luís Valente [[email protected]] is a master’s candidate in Instructional Technology at the University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, and belongs to the support staff for the Project Nónio, Century XXI.

References DAPP. (2001). As tecnologias de informação e comunicação nas escolas: Condições de equipamento e utilização [Technologies of information and communication in schools: Conditions of equipment and utilization]. Lisboa, Portugal: Author. ICP. (2000). Estatisticas [Statistics]. [On-line]. Available: http://www.icp.pt/publicacoes/estcom/stcm/stda dos4_00.html). European Union. (1993). White paper on growth, competitiveness, and employment: The challenges and ways forward into the 21st century, COM(93), 700 final. Brussels, 5 December. MSI. (1997). Sociedade da Informação: Livro verde para a Sociedade da Informação em Portugal [Information Society: Green paper to the Information Society in Portugal]. Lisboa, Portugal: Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia.

Uses of the Internet in Turkey by Cengiz Hakan Aydin In 1990 the first computer network connection in Turkey was established. During the first six years, several universities were the dominant users of this tool. However, since 1996, the Internet in Turkey has touched almost all sectors, in-

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cluding banking, education, and health. This article provides an overview of both general and specific educational uses of the Internet in Turkey. There are almost no governmental or private agencies that research the growth of the Internet in Turkey and provide satisfactory statistics. The numbers used are the most reliable available but may not be exact.

General Use of the Internet in Turkey

Since the mid-1990s, use of the Internet in Turkey has shown rapid development. The increase was especially great during the period of 1996–1997. In July 1996, only 7,000 Turkish hosts were connected to the Internet. This number had reached 15,000 by January 1997. It is estimated that there will be more than 100,000 hosts and nearly 3 million Internet users in Turkey by the end of 2001 (Haber, 2000) (Figure 1). Private companies and business firms lead the country in Internet use. Everyday, approximately 20–30 new companies with com.tr addresses join the Internet society. According to July 2000 numbers (Cagiltay, 2000, Institutions section), there are 22,282 registered com.tr users in Turkey. The same study reveals that only 3% of the whole population of Turkey are Internet users and the average number of users per computer connected to the Internet is 752, which is very high compared to other European countries (Table 1). A survey conducted by Tubitak-Bilten (2000) provided some statistics about the status of computer and Internet use in Turkey. According to this survey, only 7% of Turkish people have Internet access; 12.3% have computers at home. Of those with computers at home, about 50% are able to use Internet. Users spend their time on the Internet mostly for e-mailing (23%), conducting research (22.3%) and chatting (16.5%). In contrast, IBS Marketing Research’s study (IBS, 2001), indicated that most Turkish Internet users (54%) connect to the Internet at home. Most of the other users (27%) access the Internet at an Internet café, of which there are approximately 1,200 in Turkey. The same study revealed that most Internet users in Turkey are male and the average age group is 18–24. Users spend approximately 500,000–2,000,000 TL

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Figure 1

Development trend of Internet hosts in Turkey.

($0.30 to $1.30) per hour to access the Internet in Internet cafés, while home users pay approximately 200,000–500,000 TL ($0.13 to $0.30). The costs vary according to time period and Internet service provider (ISP). The above costs regarding home users include ISP and telephone call costs. The IBS study also indicated that the Internet in Turkey is used mostly for chat and game play-

Table 1

Average Number of the People Per Computer Connected to the Internet (Cagiltay, 2000)

Country Finland Holland United Kingdom Austria Germany Spain Portugal Greece Poland Bulgaria Turkey Romania

July 1999 11 21 37 43 54 107 148 159 233 542 752 788

ing purposes. Other main purposes include downloading music or other programs, and emarketing or e-business. Educational Use of the Internet in Turkey

Unfortunately, educational uses of the Internet in Turkey are still in the infancy period. There are a few attempts to integrate the Internet into K–12 schools and higher education institutions, and a few human resources development companies are getting ready to offer on-line training alternatives to their costumers.

Higher education There is a great tendency toward Web-based instruction programs in most Turkish universities and other educational institutions. Some already have started to offer on-line degree or certificate programs. For example, Anadolu University has provided on-line self-test opportunities for its distance learners since 1998. Anadolu University has also been trying to offer some on-line alternative courses for its on-campus students in order to be able to understand how feasible, effective, efficient, and appealing it is to offer online programs, and established a foundation for a “virtual” university in 1998. Starting Fall 2001,

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122 the University will offer an on-line two-year instructional technology certificate program. As with Anadolu University, some other Turkish Universities are opening on-line certificate and degree programs. Middle East Technical University (METU), for example, has several on-line certificate programs on information technology, English language, or computer skills. Like METU, Bilgi University, which is a kind of private institution (foundational), has been providing an on-line degree program called eMBA for almost two years. Besides these, there are many serious efforts at other universities to open on-line programs; however, most of these efforts are still at the idea stage of development or are limited to several on-line courses. The Higher Education Council (YOK), a governmental agency, has established a committee called the National Informatics Committee (EMK). Its objectives are to facilitate academic cooperation by enabling the sharing of educational resources among universities; to increase the effectiveness of education by making use of the interactive medium provided by information technologies; and thus increase the efficiency of higher education and its accessibility to new student audiences (EMK, 2001). Beyond these, the main goal was to establish a virtual university in Turkey. The committee divided the universities into two groups: providers—the ones that want to develop and offer on-line courses; and customers—the ones that are willing to provide on-line learning opportunities to their students and are willing to buy the courses. A university could be a provider, a customer, or both. During the 2000–01 academic year, several courses were offered on-line but sufficient data is not yet available regarding the effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal of these courses.

Primary and secondary education Although there have been many attempts to integrate the Internet into Turkish primary and secondary school curricula since the mid-1990s, almost all of them were lost in the slow working, highly bureaucratic, and centralized organization of the Ministry of National Education. However, a few private schools and institutions are allowing their students to use the Internet to

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communicate with foreign peers or conduct searches for information related to their homework. Further, most of them focus only on preparing students for the university entrance exam. Egitim.com, okulum.com, and Mef-Digital are some examples of Websites developed for helping K–12 students in this way.

Training Some of the big companies (e.g., IBM, Microsoft, Siemens) that foresaw the power of on-line education have started to look for opportunities to offer Web-based training to their employees. Human resources development agencies (e.g., Humanitas, Enocta Koc-Bryce) that want to provide this service to the companies have started to establish some partnerships with foreign Web-based training program providers. Webbased training is still very limited, but the number of companies that provide it is increasing. Issues and Trends

Besides the severe economic recession Turkey has been going through for a couple of years, there are other problems affecting use of the Internet. Among these problems are attempts to legislate Internet use. A bill recently passed by the Turkish National Assembly has been at the center of discussions. Part of the bill was related to Internet publishing. The government wanted to establish a control mechanism over the Internet that would require everyone who wants a Web page to get permission from a local government agent. The president of the Republic of Turkey used his legal rights to disapprove the bill and sent it back to the assembly for change. The problem has subsided for now but it may resurface soon if assembly members don’t want to change. Another important issue is insufficient numbers of available Internet connections. Most people and institutions still use ordinary telephone lines and modems to access the Internet. There are two different infrastructures in Turkey: ULAKNET and TTNet. Most universities and educational institutions use the ULAKNET, and private companies use TTNet. Both seem to have sufficient upload and

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download speeds, but the connection speeds are still very slow. The system usually works so slowly that people choose not to struggle with it. Often it does not work at all. Recently, fiber optic cable modem connections and service were introduced in some large cities. This system certainly promises better connections, but there is a long way to go before the general population can take advantage of it, even in large cities (Yurderi, 2001). Regarding educational uses of the Internet, the main problem is that most people see it as the key to solving the problems of education, forgetting what happened with educational television and other new technologies of the past. People still are reluctant to transfer what they are doing in the class to the Internet and do not pay sufficient attention to design and evaluation issues (Cagiltay, 2001). Thus, some on-line courses produce frustration and negative attitudes toward on-line education. Although the above numbers and developments draw a less than positive picture about use of the Internet in Turkey, many believe that soon more people will be able to access and take advantage of it. As Turkey overcomes its economic, technical, and attitude problems, the Internet may help the Turkish people have better and more democratic education opportunities.

C. Hakan Aydin [[email protected]] is Assistant Professor in the Educational Communications and Planning Department at Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey.

References Cagiltay, K. (2000). Turkish Internet growth tendencies. [Online]. Available: http://php.indiana.edu/kursat/hosts/english.htm. Cagiltay, K. (2001). Uzaktan e_itim: Ba_ariya giden yol teknolojiden mi yoksa pedegojiden mi? [Distance education: Is it the technology or the pedagogy for achievement?] [Online]. Available: http://www.teknoturk.org/ docking/yazilar/tt000037-yazi.htm. EMK (National Informatics Committee). (2000). Policy of National Informatics Committee. [Online]. Available: http://www.ii.metu.edu.tr/EMK/enfyonet.htm. IBS Marketing Research (2001) Satiation ratio of Internet reached 17 percent. [Online]. Available: http://www.ekorehber.com/haber.php?haberno=2744. Haber, B.T. (2000, July 2430). There will be 3 million Internet users at the end of 2000. Weekly Information Technology Gazette, 278, 4. Tubitak-Bilten. (2000). Bilgi Teknolojileri Yayginlik ve Kullanim Anketi-2000 (Survey of spread and use of Information Technologies—2000). [Online]. Available: http://basin.tubitak.gov.tr/bulten/bilten.htm. Yurderi, T. (2001). Internet development in Turkey: A case study. [Online]. Available: http://www.isoc.org/isoc/whatis/conferences/inet/97/proceedings/E3/E3_3.HTM#Current.