An Examination of the Quality Status of E-learning in Higher Education in Iran: A Case Study

Presenting a model for evaluation of e-learning internal quality in the country’s higher education was the main purpose of this study. To accomplish this task, models and frameworks developed during the 2001-2009 period were studied and the key factors which determine the quality of e-learning were identified. The proposed model was then accredited applying the Delphi method. Moreover, the eighty-five e-learning quality indicators identified and introduced by this model were verified with a mean score of 86.58. A second questionnaire was also designed and delivered to subject experts in order to extract the evaluation criteria for the proposed framework. The preliminary version of this model was then applied to a case of e-learning internal quality evaluation in a sample that consisted of 194 MSc. Students studying in Tehran’s virtual universities with at least one batch of graduates. Data analyzed using descriptive statistical methods. By mapping the data obtained from the suggested model and the evaluation scale table, e-learning quality was measured as ideal in the human factor with a score of 74.03 and poor in the economic and political factor with a score of 61.05. Other key factors varied between these two extremes. Further findings revealed that cultural and legislation factors were discarded from the empirical model as a result 49 indicators were verified by both theoretical and practical models.