e‑Learning Indicators: a Multi‑Dimensional Model for Planning and Evaluating e‑Learning Software Solutions

Abstract

As a number of recent studies suggest applications of networked computers in education have very inconsistent results ranging from success stories to complete failures. Literally, thousands of e‑learning projects have been carried out that greatly differ in their outcomes. Until now, however, there is no systematic or a standardized way of planning, comparing and evaluating e‑learning projects, their outcomes, and their effectiveness. Therefore, the main objective of this research was an investigation of possible approaches to systematic planning, development and evaluation of e‑learning initiatives and their corresponding e‑learning projects. The result of this work is a multidimensional model of e‑learning Indicators that are defined as the important concepts and factors that are used to communicate information about the level of e‑learning and used to make management decisions when planning e‑learning strategy. The lack of knowledge of the learner audience as well as of the factors influencing that audience and e‑learning projects overall results in failing to provide satisfactory support in the decision making process. In order to address this issue, an approach dealing with e‑learning indicators is proposed. Having a standardised guide of e‑learning indicators accepted by the scientific community enables comparison and evaluation of different initiatives regarding e‑learning in a standardised manner. The proposed E‑learning Indicators Methodology enables successful planning, comparison and evaluation of different e‑learning projects. It represents an empirical methodology that gives concrete results expressed through numbers that could be analysed and later used to compare and conclude its e‑learning efficiency. A practical value of this approach was analyzed in the realized comparative analyses of two different institutions using different LMS tools: Angel and Moodle focusing on comparison and evaluation of e‑learning indicators of these two e‑learning projects. With the application of this methodology in e‑learning projects it is more likely to achieve better results and higher efficiency as well as higher Return on Investment‑ROI.