AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION INTO INTERNET OPENCOURSEWARES IN LINE WITH THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS

Once the recent studies regarding the use of the Internet in higher education are examined, it could be clearly seen that "OpenCourseWare" comprises an important research topic. “OpenCourseWare” is defined as opening the course materials such as lecture notes, presentations, project drafts, prepared by scholars themselves, to everyone without expecting any return over the Internet. "OpenCourseWare" was first commenced in the United States at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2001. The fact that “OpenCourseWare” is increasing and becoming common relatively more gradually in our country, despite increasing applications around the world, comprises the starting point for this study. The study includes pre-test-post test control group experimental design and the study group involves the senior students at the Graphics Department of Dumlupinar University Faculty of Fine Arts. There are 20 students in the experimental group and 19 students in the control group. 49% of theese students are female and 51% are male. The course materials prepared for the course “Graphic Production Techniques”, which was taught in the fall semester of 2010-2011 academic year have been published over the website prepared by the researcher (www.masaustuyayincilikdersi.com) due to the absence of a website for open course materials of Dumlupınar University. Through the achievement test conducted at the end of the research, a significant difference was found in favour of the students in the experimental group, who made use of the open course ware. Keywords: OpenCourseWare, graphic design education, desktop publishing