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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of undertaking a systemic view of learning management systems (LMSs) evaluation addressing the conceptualization and measurement of e‐learning systems success in higher education.

The paper adopts a quantitative case perspective and derives a conceptual model for e‐learning assessment (Hexagonal e‐learning assessment model – HELAM). The model is empirically tested for validity and reliability in the university setting.

Qualitative and quantitative findings have been presented, which will be valuable for academics and practitioners doing research in e‐learning evaluation. The findings support the flexibility and relevance of HELAM as an e‐learning assessment model. It highlights a number of success measures which are grouped under six dimensions.

Further research efforts should explore new dimensions or test the causal relationships among proposed dimensions within the boundary of e‐learning. In that, the paper is limited contextually where attention should be made not to generalize the findings beyond the empirical findings within the case analysis.

The paper supports a practitioner perspective through a consideration of a holistic approach to e‐learning assessment. E‐learning system developers may find the findings useful when designing and implementing the LMS.

The paper is original as the conceptual model has been derived through both theoretical constructs and empirical analysis. It provides an innovative approach to e‐learning assessment.

The purpose of this study is to propose a sustainable quality assessment approach (model) for the e-learning systems keeping software perspective under consideration. E-learning is becoming mainstream due to its accessibility, state-of-the-art learning, training ease and cost effectiveness. However, the poor quality of e-learning systems is one of the major causes of several failures reported. Moreover, this arena lacks well-defined quality assessment measures. Hence, it is quite difficult to measure the overall quality of an e-learning system effectively.

A pragmatic mixed-model philosophy was adopted for this study. A systematic literature review was performed to identify existing e-learning quality models and frameworks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with e-learning experts following empirical investigations to identify the crucial quality characteristics of e-learning systems. Various statistical tests like principal component analysis, logistic regression, chi-square and analysis of means were applied to analyze the empirical data. These led to an adequate set of quality indicators that can be used by higher education institutions to assure the quality of e-learning systems.

A sustainable quality assessment model for the information delivery in e-learning systems in software perspective has been proposed by exploring the state-of-the-art quality assessment/evaluation models and frameworks proposed for the e-learning systems. The proposed model can be used to assess and improve the process of information discovery and delivery of e-learning.

The results obtained led to conclude that very limited attention is given to the quality of e-learning tools despite the importance of quality and its effect on e-learning system adoption and promotion. Moreover, the identified models and frameworks do not adequately address quality of e-learning systems from a software perspective.

The use of e‐learning is largely predicated upon the assumption that it can facilitate improvements in student learning and therefore can be more effective than conventional techniques. This assumption has been supported by some in the literature but has been questioned by a continuing body of contrary or indifferent evidence. The purpose of this paper is to improve the theoretical understanding of the variables influencing e‐learning effectiveness, the manner in which these variables have been studied to date, and to propose a suitable conceptual model of e‐learning effectiveness to aid its evaluation.

The paper revisits and critically reviews major contributions to the e‐learning effectiveness literature.

Owing to a variety of issues prevalent in the literature, it is clear that the variables influencing effectiveness are multifarious and few researchers impose adequate controls or factor them into research designs. Drawing on the work of Dewey, Englebart, and Kaplan, a conceptual framework of e‐learning effectiveness is proposed. This model maps out the key variables involved in the study of e‐learning effectiveness and the interactions between variables.

It is anticipated that such a model will assist researchers in developing future evaluative studies which are both sufficiently robust and holistic in design. It is also hypothesised that studies designed using the conceptual model will be more likely to yield results corroborating the ability of e‐learning to affect improvements in student learning.

This paper aims to provide a methodological road for the next generation of e‐learning environments.

This paper considers a survey of recent publications (1995‐2002), which aim to provide practical and theoretical indications and advice, which are coupled with practical experimentations.

The paper provides road‐mapping elements, indicating the impact on services and systems to be expected by this design approach.

The survey is based on a selection of sources and it is not exhaustive. The methodology experiments that are used for argumentation are based on the authors’ platform.

The paper presents a useful source of knowledge for researchers and advanced students.

This paper identifies a road for advanced e‐learning systems, and can help researchers and those in industry who desire to introduce and understand the design methodological context of advanced e‐learning systems.

The University of Mauritius (UoM) established as a traditional face-to-face university has been engaged in distance education since 1993 and in e-learning since 2001 to establish itself as a dual-mode institution. In a context where it has engaged itself to promote its internationalization of online courses and a digital learning transformation process, there is a need to assess and evaluate its current e-learning capability to identify areas of good practices and opportunities for improvement to ensure a high quality of e-learning provisions. The paper reports the results of an assessment of the e-learning capability and the related quality assurance processes of the University of the Mauritius using the e-learning Maturity Model (eMM). Quality assurance in higher education is still a key issue, especially with the ever-growing influence of technology and the disruption that the Internet has caused with respect to e-learning and distance education provisions. No university in Mauritius has ever engaged in such an assessment of their e-learning capabilities.

The EMM and the Open Learning Consortium Quality Scorecard Suite were found to be the most complete models in terms of available documentation and description of how to carry out the evaluation with respect to each process area as compared to the other models described in the literature review section. The EMM was, however, chosen as the model to be used for the UoM, given that there already exists a body of knowledge about its applications in different universities that operate in similar contexts. The researcher is at the heart of the process in the role of an ‘eLearning quality auditor’. Therefore, the research used mainly desk studies, and analysis of annual reports as well as a consultative approach with key stakeholders based on a consensus model to reach a rating for each element in the EMMv2.3 instrument. The rating is based on evidence that is available and verifiable through desk research and documentation.

We found out that the main strengths of the university were in the learning process areas mainly because of the need to follow existing quality assurance procedures in place at different phases of a course of life cycle, irrespective of the course modality. On the other hand, across all process areas, the university fared well in the delivery dimension, and this finding is consistent with other universities that were assessed using the EMM. However, it was found that the EMM in current form was more adapted for the assessment of universities operating fully as open or virtual universities rather than those operating as dual-mode institutions or as traditional universities promoting technology-enabled learning. The weakest link was the optimization dimension across all process areas, and the process area that needs more attention for improvement was the evaluation process area. Overall, the university can reasonably be pitched at level two (Repeatable) of the capability maturity model scale used for information systems maturity assessment, but operating towards level three (Defined).

The work presented here has never been carried out for any university in Mauritius, and there have been no reported evaluations or applications within the African region. It allows the university to benchmark and compare its standing with respect to other universities operating as dual-mode institutions and as a reference for other universities in Mauritius as well.

E-learning has become an increasingly prevalent learning approach in higher educational institutions due to the fast growth of internet technologies in India. This paper aims to mainly focus on evaluating the effectiveness of the e-learning experience from students’ perceptive.

“Survey” method has been used to collect the data with the help of a structured questionnaire from the students who have registered on COURSERA (www.coursera.org/) website for e-learning. The questionnaire consisted of two sections e-learning system and e-learning effectiveness. E-learning system included items related to system quality, information quality and service quality. E-learning effectiveness dimension included user satisfaction and net benefits. The items in this section were measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagrees to strongly agree. The data collected have been analyzed using the SPSS version 17.0 and AMOS version 21.0.

Results show that system quality and service quality contribute more in e-learning system compared to information quality. Students perception may be that information available on the website may not be very useful as it’s a one-way mode of communication. The researcher also found that the three dimensions (system quality, service quality and information quality) of e-learning system contributes to user satisfaction and net benefits. Students are satisfied with e-learning websites and intent to continue to use it in future as well. They also found it beneficial as it helps them in career growth and making them employable.

This paper proposed a second-order model of e-learning system and a second-order model e-learning effectiveness. E-learning system has been defined by three first-order constructs: a system quality, service quality and information quality. E-learning effectiveness has been defined by two first-order constructs: a user satisfaction and net benefits. The predictability of the proposed model is high to explain the impact of e-learning system on e-learning effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to review cross‐disciplinary research on e‐learning from workplace learning, educational technology, and instructional communication disciplines to identify relevant e‐learning design principles. It aims to use these principles to propose an e‐learning model that can guide the design of instructionally sound, usable, and interactive e‐learning courses and programs for workplace learning.

The paper is a review of empirical and conceptual e‐learning literature from human resource development, workplace learning, educational technology and instructional communication.

The paper presents a current review of e‐learning design research, identifies convergent areas of e‐learning design practices, and proposes a tripartite e‐learning design model. Design principles identified in the literature review include adherence to instructional design principles based on adult learning principles, ensuring human‐technology interface (usability) guidelines, and supporting online immediacy (social presence) attributes.

An expanded view of e‐learning design strategies grounded in a learning sciences perspective and encompassing research on behavioral, cognitive, constructivist and humanistic theories is offered.

The study provides an integrated e‐learning design model that represents main areas of e‐learning research and suggests competencies for e‐trainers.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt the revised and integrated technology acceptance model (TAM) and the successful model of the information system as a framework suitable for discussing factors the affecting the usage intention of e-learning for police education and training.

To attain the aforementioned objective, this study employed the questionnaire survey approach for the collection of information from Taiwan’s border police officers. A total of 277 questionnaires were completed and validated.

The results showed that the subjective norms, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness positively influenced the usage intention of e-learning for police education and training. Second, subjective norms, job relevance, system quality, service quality, and ease of use were found to act positively on the police’s perceived usefulness of e-learning. Lastly, system quality and service quality acted positively on the police’s perceived usefulness of e-learning.

The present study integrated TAM2 and information systems successful model into the research framework for building e-learning efficacy indicators. The good validation results obtained suggest the theoretical importance of this integrated model. The model and research findings closed the research gap especially in the application of police e-learning.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the development of a blended e‐learning pedagogical model for an undergraduate enterprise programme. The proliferation of e‐learning programmes offers new opportunities and challenges for universities to meet the learning needs of new student markets. However, the use of e‐learning as an enabling mechanism for enterprise education remains largely unexplored within academic literature.

The case study methodology comprises a series of focus groups with key stakeholders in the project, namely online tutors, students and scheme leaders from a number of partner colleges involved in the delivery of the course.

The study charts the evolution of the blended learning pedagogy which was found to best meet the learning requirements of non‐traditional learners on an undergraduate programme. The blended learning pedagogy strategy which was developed replicated the best informal practice that had emerged through each of the partner institutions and the learning needs of the students. Constituent elements of the pedagogy included the provision of structured face‐to‐face events, a range of student supports systems and the creation of a code of practice for online tutors. As a result, a model of best practice for blended learning is proposed.

This study contributes to the literature in terms of proposing a working framework for online undergraduate enterprise education with identification of critical success factors including supportive induction, viable pedagogy and effective support systems. The framework can be utilised by practitioners and theoreticians as a guide to the effective management of pedagogical issues associated with blended online education.

This paper seeks to present a modeling approach for e‐learning content, describing how to structure e‐learning content and also represent it in OWL DL.

This paper presents three different layers of information that should be considered in e‐learning and conceptual models to guide the representation of e‐learning content. This proposal is based on existing standards and experience gained in previous works. It is also shown how to structure and represent the content embedded in learning objects (LOs).

Besides providing a better structuring of the e‐learning content, content reuse and exploratory navigations over content through the semantic relationships between information (mainly information objects (IOs) and conceptual units) are promoted.

A visual tool to allow a better exploration of the e‐learning content is already being developed. However, it is essential to develop optimized storing and retrieving mechanisms that would make this approach more interesting.

When compared with other approaches such as those based on semantic models and deductive models, the decrease in complexity makes acceptance and adoption of this approach by teachers and instructional designers easier.

This paper fulfils an identified three‐level information need for e‐learning content and presents a new modeling approach. Besides structuring the e‐learning content, the model is also represented in OWL DL. It allows an easier/richer implementation of e‐learning content.