Providing Operational Definitions to Quality Constructs for E-Learning in Higher Education

Abstract

New developments in information and communication technologies (ICT) to support learning have brought about increasing interest by both academic and non-academic institutions in e-learning. These developments in ICT are principally multimedia and the Internet with its World Wide Web. Interest in ICT supported learning is also fuelled by the associated (expected) cost reduction and easy expansion of education to the increasing and flexible market that is difficult to reach by traditional delivery. Expansion of e-learning, especially in higher education, raises the issue of quality, resulting in both anecdotal and empirical evidence of how to achieve high quality while at the same time benefiting from e-learning. After examining key current research, the authors developed a conceptual framework of nine factors of quality in e-learning in higher education. These factors include content, delivery, technical provision (referred to as tangibles) and globalisation. This article takes the research further by attempting to operationalise the nine factors and develop a questionnaire such that future work can undertake a primary study to validate the framework.