icegov2012 proceedings

involved later [22]. Several institutions are involved in egovernment
research on organizational and technical level [14].
“E-Government Research and Applications Center (EDMER)” in
Middle East Technical University (METU) was opened in 2007
and “Center on E-Government” (eDEM) in the Public Administration
Institute for Turkey and Middle East (TODAIE), (a governmental
institution to train bureaucrats and scholars in the field of
public administration) was opened in 1999. More recently, several
NGOs have also initiated studies about e-government and information
society [14] [22].
To sum up, although it is clear that e-government is a mature field
of research, there is still need for wide-spread e-government training
and education in Turkey since the efforts of the above mentioned
institutions remain restricted in the face of mounting “demand
side”. While lack of investment on educational and training
activities about e-government may bring about disappointment in
e-government projects, there seems to be a substantial gap in this
field, both abroad and in Turkey. A number of reasons lie behind
this withdrawal from such activities: service providers may see
education and training services as extra costs that should be
avoided, due to the complex and multidimensional nature of egovernment
topics, difficulties arise when designing teaching
programs, training programs for public employees may have
limited time and reach a limited number of staff, or governments
may be unwilling to pay for educational costs of large populations
[6]. However as Janowski argues, especially the political leaders,
government leaders, project managers, management staff, technical
staff, service staff, businesses, citizens should have some
training on e-government [9]. Thus, the role of higher education
institutions as well as offering courses to the public becomes more
important, since they have an opportunity to reach various types
of recipients. Moreover, public administration graduates need to
prepare today’s challenges and uncertainty which globalization
and information technology trigger [18]. Since public administration
systems are largely affected from surrounding technologic
environment and e-government initiatives on both organizational
and political levels, it would be appropriate to suggest that public
administration departments should have a leading role in developing
information technology and e-government curricula or update
existing programs according to the needs and requirements of
public organizations and the societies at large [3] [4] [11] [17].
Thus, even before the emergence of the internet revolution, the
importance of updating public administration programs to follow
technological developments was emphasized by various writers,
and the inadequacies in this field still remain problematic [10]
[13] [15] [17]. Parallel to the diffusion of information technologies
into the societies and the institutions, universities have initiated
technology or e-government education programs on different
levels that target students, public/private sector employees, social
groups and specific topics and specialization areas [1][2].
3. METHODOLOGY
In this study, online program curriculums were searched to determine
the state of the e-government and ICT courses in Turkey.
Primary data were collected from lecturers via semi-structured
interviews and a questionnaire which was applied to undergraduate
public administration students who have attended egovernment
courses during the fall semester of 2011. Syllabi of
the courses were also analyzed to determine the contents of the
courses. In the light of these data, the current status, risks, future
prospects, and diffusion of e-government education at public
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administration departments were discussed within the limits of the
presentation.
There are 68 public administration department in Turkey in 2012.
Although all departments offer courses which aim to develop
basic computer skills, such as office programs or web page design,
only 14 department offer course which are directly about egovernment.
Faculty members teaching relevant courses in these
departments were determined, and semi-structured in-depth interviews
were conducted with them. In these interviews, introduction
process of relevant courses into the curricula was examined, and
related factors were investigated. In addition, questions about the
content of the courses were addressed. The development of egovernment
studies and e-government courses have been asked to
the faculty and their recommendations and predictions were compiled
with the interviews. Syllabi of the courses were collected as
secondary data. It was not possible to reach enough syllabi to use
for content analysis, so 4 syllabi were used as subsidiary sources.
In order to investigate the opinions of students about egovernment
courses, a survey was conducted among undergraduate
students of four PA departments offered e-government courses
in Fall 2011. 266 students followed these courses during the stated
period and 193 of 266 answered the questions. 59.7% (111) of
these students were female, and 40.3% (75) were male. In total,
186 (70% of the students) student questionnaires were used for
analysis. The questionnaire included ten expressions about the
reasons for choosing the course, course satisfaction, perceived
advantage of taking this course, and opinions about the status of
the course. They were asked to choose from one of five options
about the expressions (From absolutely disagree to totally agree).
The students were also asked to assign an importance rating (one
being least important and seven being most important) to 22 student-familiar
e-government topics, which reflect technical, theoretical,
legal, organizational, and political aspects,
4. FINDINGS
In this section, the main findings of the study are presented with
two sub-headings. The first sub-section gives information about
the current status of e-government courses at PA departments, and
discusses the inclusion of e-government courses into the curricula.
The second sub-section deals with the education methods, course
syllabi and the opinions of undergraduate students about egovernment
courses. The findings of the study are discussed in the
last section.
4.1 E-Government Courses at PA Departments in
Turkey
As mentioned before, the interest in e-government investment and
research does not seem to correspond to a similar interest in egovernment
education at the public administration programs in
Turkey. Since the number of PA departments which offer egovernment
courses is low, understanding the way in which these
courses diffuse into the curricula becomes important for future
tracks. In a recent study Yildiz et al. have found that receiving
graduate education or spending sabbatical studies in abroad are
the most important factor to include public policy courses in the
curriculum. Additionally, student exchange programs (particularly
with the European countries) and second generation lecturers who
have taken these courses in Turkey are also affecting the decision
to add these courses in the curriculum.