Evaluate and ranking the affecting factors in developing e-learning in higher education with fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approach

E-learning is a method of teaching that uses a combination of information and communication technology capabilities to facilitate and improve learning. The combination of these facilities provides opportunities for the learner to access the course and curriculum at any time, in accordance with their job and family commitments. The ability to access tools, the ability to choose the time and place of training, and the availability of different content formats in this environment put the learner in a position to make a variety of choices. In this environment, the learner can use different tools to communicate with classmates, teachers and other people at the same time and at the same time. Implementing quality and sustainable e-learning programs requires understanding the requirements for establishing and developing e-learning systems. Designing, setting up and maintaining e-learning environments requires a variety of knowledge and skills in the technical, educational and managerial fields. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and rank the effective factors in developing e- learning in higher education. In this study, the effective factors in developing e- learning in higher education were identified in terms of measuring factors of e-learning development including organizational, social, technical and human factors, based on previous studies and the opinion of experts.

Statistical methods were used to test and confirm the research hypotheses and fuzzy AHP ranking method was used to rank the indicators. To this purpose two questionnaires were prepared. The first one is for evaluating the accuracy of the research hypotheses and the second one, a pairwise questionnaire, is for rating the indicators. The statistical population of the research is all students and professors of electronic unit of Islamic Azad University in academic year of 2016-2017. The statistical sample size was considered 384 individuals based on Cochran formula; and was selected through the random sampling method. The questionnaires were distributed among 384 individuals from which, 84 questionnaires were omitted due to different reasons such as wrong answers to the questions and the lack of enough time, and 300 questionnaires were accepted.

A list of 8 indicators (student characteristics, teacher characteristics, content quality, structure management, training process, software infrastructure, hardware infrastructure, university image) is extracted based on technical, human, social, and organizational factors to evaluate the effectiveness of e-learning. The results showed that the introduced scale was a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating the effectiveness of e-learning.  

The results show that student characteristics are more important while software infrastructure is considered as the second influential factor in this regard. Also, the characteristics of the instructor, the quality of the content, the management of the structure, the infrastructure of the hardware, the teaching process and the image of the university were ranked third to eighth, respectively  .