Abstract:

            Within the scope of the study, a focus group interview was conducted with the 8 distance education students who can be defined as digital natives and 8 distance education students who can be defined as digital immigrants. Students were chosen from different departments in Istanbul University’s Faculty of Open and Distance Education. Among the important questions that asked as a part of the study are what communication tools they prefer to communicate with all stakeholders under the distance education system, what kind of problems they experience in the communication process and what their expectations are regarding the communication practices. In conclusion, it is determined that there are some differences in communication habits between digital native and digital immigrant students. It is revealed that such differences are able to reflect on their learning practices. While digital natives expected to enjoy more interaction opportunities on the formal educational software through the social networks, digital immigrants expected some initiatives for collaborative studies. Technical problems are important factors that adversely affect the learning activities for both groups.

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