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Chapter 12
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0648-5.ch012
ABSTRACT
Distance Education is more preferable by both learners and institutions in the 21st century. The technol-
ogy, teaching-learning and communication processes are in a change that each stakeholder should comply
with. One up-to-date form of these processes is social networking. Social networks have the potential of
providing access to more resources and improving the quality of communication and interaction. Social
Network Analysis and Network Weaving approaches are useful to determine the social network structure
and improve it. Further to that, in this chapter, “Social Network Synthesis” approach is introduced,
obtained by applying synthesis process on Social Network Theory. The approach is thought to allow for
the establishment of optimum relationships between the concerned actors in a newly confgured goal-
directed social network. An illustrative framework that can be used for building Distance Education
programs is also presented.
INTRODUCTION
Developments in Information Communication Technologies within the changes on views of education
and teaching has lead Distance Education to be gradually preferable for both institutions and learners.
The Distance Education Programs’ superiorities can be effective on this choice like learners’ providing
a workforce while learning (Macdonald & Poniatowska, 2011), avoiding a possible job loss because of
living in another place, removing the problems like accommodation which can cause a negativity on
time and cost (Burgess & Russell, 2003). According to Sloan-C’s data in 2011, the number of students
joining at least one (online) distance education class is 6,7 million outnumbering the previous year with
Social Network Synthesis:
A Dynamic Approach for Building
Distance Education Programs
E. Pınar Uça-Güneş
Anadolu University, Turkey
Gülsün Eby
Anadolu University, Turkey