An Overview of Benchmarks Regarding Quality Assurance for eLearning in Higher Education

Abstract

The application of technology in teaching and learning or eLearning has become a future trend in higher education around the globe. Although it is evolved from conventional teaching and learning, it has distinct features and therefore researchers classify eLearning as a discrete educational form. In the past decade, considerable efforts have been made on investigating the applications or developing models or frameworks regarding eLearning. Limited studies have been conducted to address eLearning quality or quality assurance issues. As nowadays eLearning is extensively adopted in higher education, universities or institutions are accountable for its quality. Quality assurance can be carried out through benchmarking or assessments by the specification of standards. Many national bodies and organizations have established various benchmarks, standards and rubrics to describe or assess the eLearning quality. However, researchers indicated that it is challenging to conduct benchmarking in universities. The main reason is that there is a great diversity of courses or teaching approaches, particularly in eLearning. In this study, a comprehensive review of benchmarks that are available worldwide to assist institutions to support continuously quality assurance or improvement in eLearning has been conducted. The aim of this review is to identify the main eLearning categories and investigate which benchmarks are suitable for each category. Keywords searching was adopted to identify the relevant eLearning benchmarks to be included in this review. Results indicated that 17 sets of benchmarks have been identified and classified into 5 main categories. This paper also describes the uniquenesses of these benchmarks. In addition, the covered areas of these benchmarks will be compared. Suggestions for future research are also addressed.