Accessibility Training and Guidelines
At Anadolu University, open education students are offered a wide variety of learning materials. Open education has recently gone through a digital transformation process to enhance self-learning with the help of materials such as textbooks in digital format (PDF. ePUB. MOBI. HTML5), audiobooks, chapter summaries, interactive videos, practice tests, exercises, live online classes, and videos of online classes. In addition, various services for disabled students enrolled in the Open Education System are offered on the Accessible OEF (http://engelsizaof.anadolu.edu.tr/) website. Students with disabilities studying in the Open Education System are supported on this website on many issues, especially the registration process, add-delete courses, use of the e-campus system, exams and graduation. There is a sign language translation application on the barrier-free OEF site. In addition, all students are provided with instant support on many issues such as the open education system, vertical transfer, registration processes, exams, student services, horizontal transfer, and abroad programs via the aosdestek.anadolu.edu.tr website. In addition, face-to-face student support services are offered in all OEF offices. Also, All services and career support activities offered during the education process, from student support services to e-learning environments and materials, from exam organization to social and cultural activities, are planned through data management according to the specific needs of the students, by obtaining detailed health information from the students in the electronic Environment upon entering the system.
Developing Policies
Inspired by open educational practices and openness philosophy, Anadolu University states its vision as “to be a global university with a focus on lifelong learning” (Anadolu University, 2021, para. 2). The Open Education System of Anadolu University, dedicated to equal opportunity, aims to open a wide range of programs based on this principle and to offer learning environments that effectively promote these programs. This policy is predicated on the following principles:
• to develop and implement policies that promote effectively equal opportunity and diversity of students, human resources and the faculty.
• to ensure that all students have equal access to opportunities offered
• to ensure that all students benefit from affordable tuition fees
• to ensure that all students have equal access to environments where curriculum. assessment, support services and resources are available.
• to protect the diversity of students and human resources in the Open Education System.
• not to allow harassment, bullying and discrimination under any circumstances.
• to ensure that all staff have full understanding of equal opportunities and different opportunities and put these principles into practice.
• to set up effective systems to ensure equality of opportunity and diversity.
• to observe all equality principles in service provision.
Disability Statements
The Open Education System of Anadolu University, dedicated to equal opportunity, aims to open a wide range of programs based on this principle and to offer learning environments that effectively promote these programs. To ensure quality education for persons with disabilities the following policy is predicated on the following principles:
• to develop and implement policies that promote effectively equal opportunity and diversity of students, human resources and the faculty.
• to ensure that all students have equal access to opportunities offered.
• to ensure that all students benefit from affordable tuition fees.
• to ensure that all students have equal access to environments where curriculum. assessment, support services and resources are available.
• to protect the diversity of students and human resources in the Open Education System.
• not to allow harassment, bullying and discrimination under any circumstances.
• to ensure that all staff have full understanding of equal opportunities and different opportunities and put these principles into practice.
Research and Projects
AKADEMA is a platform launched to offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in the Open Education System of Anadolu University. Learners from any background can join the courses on a broad range of topics from natural pharmacy to data mining. Two types of courses are offered on AKADEMA: instructor-facilitated courses, and courses fully based on individual learning. AKADEMA currently offers over 100 courses including cello playing, basketball, scuba diving, 21st century citizenship, body language, CV writing, photography, game theory, project-based learning, Arabic, Turkish, and social network analysis. Courses are free on AKADEMA.
Online Learning Tutorials and Instructions
Anadolu University, Open Education Faculty delivers its educational content using a learning management system developed by its own know-how based on a set of analytics, learners’ needs and institutional necessities. It intends to create a learning ecosystem that focuses on delivering a wide range of learning materials by providing different accessibility options. Accordingly, learners with special needs can benefit from features such as virtual keyboard navigation, smart contrast, screen reader, highlighted links, adaptive fonts, dyslexia fonts, text spacing, line spacing and pausing animations. Though digitalization and digital solutions ensure accessibility, it also leads the digital divide and can emerge as a barrier to access educational content. In this regard, Anadolu University, Open Educational Faculty provides opportunities to access both online and offline materials. The overall system is based upon selfregulated text books and these books are available in print for offline access and also available in digital adaptive formats (e.g., ePub). Besides, text based digital educational content is designed in a way that can be printed for those who would prefer accessing educational content in printed forms.
(Centralised) Technical Support
Computer Research and Technical Support Center at Anadolu university provides technical support at the university. The center aims to promote, support and organise scientific, technical, cultural and artistic research and applications. Besides, it targets to encourage improvement of lecturers and students at the university to engage in research and application.
