Designing and Evaluating E-Learning in Higher Education: A Review and Recommendations

In the past decade, there has been tremendous growth in the availability of college and university courses taught entirely online. In this manuscript, we review issues that impact the effectiveness of such electronic courses. We first address design and delivery issues for online courses. We then present a framework for addressing the institutional, technological, and student issues that should be simultaneously addressed in order for online courses to be effective. We also make recommendations concerning how to evaluate the effectiveness of online courses, and then discuss major constraints that can limit the effectiveness of such courses. We contend that the future success and viability of online coursework depends upon successfully addressing issues such as those raised in this manuscript.