Challenges and Barriers to Virtual Learning: A Synthesis of Research Based on Roberts Model

Virtual education is a new approach to education in formal and informal education systems. In the meantime, identifying the challenges and obstacles of this educational platform will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this educational approach.

The approach of the present study is qualitative and its method is synthesis research. The research community is all articles (296 articles) on the challenges and barriers of e-learning. The research sample is 31 articles, which have been purposefully selected based on thematic monitoring, theoretical data saturation. Research data were collected from qualitative analysis of the studied articles.

By analyzing the data, the challenges of e-learning were organized in 5 dimensions, 18 factors and 86 components. Based on the findings, the selected components of e-learning challenges include behavioral challenges, organizational challenges, educational challenges, cultural-economic challenges and infrastructural challenges.

Identifying the challenges of e-learning provides a good platform to address these challenges and improve e-learning approaches. It is hoped that curriculum planners, taking into account the results of this study and research such as this, which is the result of the existing research background in this field, will take basic steps in order to properly organize e-learning programs