CALL AND SUPPORT CENTRE FOR EDUCATION: OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATION FACULTY/EGITIM-ÖGRETIMDE ÇAGRI VE DESTEK MERKEZI: AÇIK VE UZAKTAN EGITIM FAKÜLTESI

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of call and support centre in open and distance education. Data was collected from structured interviews with call centre managers in Istanbul University (IU) Open and Distance Education Faculty (ODEF) as well as scanned texts on the websites and articles. It was conducted in the spring term of 2013-2014 academic year, and the directors such as process assistant and the call centre team leader of ODEF were engaged in the questionnaire to define the key duties and key performance indicators they had in managing their call centres, along with how a call centre was structured and functioned. The evaluation of answers of the directors of ODEF and the scanned text and the reports were used as data collection tool. According to results, likewise student affairs, a call centre in education serves as a solution centre which drives to resolve all sorts of matters of the learners. It is considered as a bridge between learners and teachers as well as learners and faculty. It was proved that without a call and support centre, the distant education process will fail.