Using a quality framework to evaluate e-Learning based experiences

Nowadays, Universities and other higher education institutions invest a lot of resources to integrate Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in their learning processes. In particular, e-Learning platforms have been incorporated to support the traditional campus-based activities. However, the application of these platforms is not enough to improve learning and teaching processes. Innovative methods are required to design and evaluate ICT enhanced learning experiences that contribute to change the traditional face-to-face teaching in this context. This work is focused on evaluating this kind of experiences and more specifically, on providing procedures to guide their evaluation when e-Learning platforms are used. Different approaches to evaluate the impact of e-Learning platforms have been developed. A first approach is based on models that represent specific teaching and learning processes concerning ICT enhanced learning environments and the elaboration of frameworks to evaluate their impact on these processes. A second approach focuses on the evaluation of ICT enhanced learning environments regardless of the learning processes in which these environments are used. The proposed evaluation method is based on the specification of learning processes supported by a "quality management" framework that allows the evaluator to organize and control the different steps or workflows during the lifecycle of a learning experience based on e-Learning platforms. The twofold approach used in the presented method helps to elaborate evaluation mechanisms (e.g. teacher/student questionnaires) adapted to a specific learning context (e.g. a course or a lesson about a technical subject) and systematically structured according to the quality management of e-Leaming-based experiences (e.g. a "blended-learning" course technique). The evaluation results can be checked using criteria such as the efficiency or the effectiveness (e.g. academic grades) to validate the method. A case study has been developed during the 2006-2007 academic year for the method validation in the context of an e-Learning experience in an Operating Systems course under the Poliformat platform.