DEVELOPING A METRIC TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF VIRTUAL LEARNING

Extensive research has been conducted on evaluating the quality of asynchronous online learning. However, limited research has focused on assessing the effectiveness synchronous or virtual classrooms. The purpose of the study was to develop a metric to evaluate the quality of virtual learning environments in higher education. Data were collected for one year from 403 students enrolled in 23 graduate-level courses. Based on Garrison's (2011) framework and a review of the literature, three constructs were examined: teacher presence, cognitive presence, and social presence. Internal reliability was high for teacher (r=0.94), social (r=0.93), and cognitive (r=0.93) presence. Face validity was established by eight faculty members. Content validity was confirmed by the literature review and alignment with Garrison's framework. Construct validity for the three proposed constructs was established by a factor analysis and further supported by moderately high correlations among the three constructs. Finally, convergent validity was reinforced by high correlations among course evaluations and the three constructs evaluated. Overall, the Virtual Learning Scale (VLS) appears to be a reliable and valid measure for assessing the quality of virtual classrooms.