Online learning, also referred to as e-learning or distance learning, is an educational approach that utilizes digital technologies and the Internet to deliver educational content and facilitate learning remotely. It eliminates geographical constraints, making education accessible to individuals who may have limited opportunities for on-campus learning due to location or other factors. Although many common learning and teaching activities, like lecturing and communicating, can be easily handled by modern online learning technologies, others, like the evaluation of learning outcomes with closed-book exams, are difficult. Among other issues involving students and educators, these difficulties concern educators' capacity to guarantee academic integrity when an exam is taken remotely and from a private location in the absence of a live proctor. The objective of this chapter of to highlight the issue of online learning particularly in developing countries.
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Since 2019, the sudden COVID-19 outbreak has had an impact on people's lives all over the world therefore Several schools had to close temporarily due to health and safety concerns (Tadesse & Muluye, 2020; Shaheen et al., 2022). As a mitigation measure Globally, governments have imposed social distancing measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Lockdowns and a cessation of personal contact with anyone outside of one's immediate family. As a result of the pandemic, educational activity is massively affected. An entire education system can be transformed in a matter of weeks Education had to undergo a complete transformation from elementary to higher education Online (Mishra et al., 2020)
(Marinoni et al., 2020) stated that a total of 185 higher education institutions (HEIs) have closed in 185 countries in April 2020, affecting more than 1,000 million learners worldwide. In the result of this situation as educators worked to make sure students received their formal education programs, the demand for online learning quickly outgrew the traditional face-to-face learning mode (Carolan et al., 2020). The increased use of online education following the COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted the importance of understanding the success of online courses as well as the techniques and tools employed to analyze and enhance them. Many institutions had to make a quick switch to online learning and encountered difficulties with scalability, student engagement, formative and summative assessment methodologies, and assessment technique improvement along the process (HAMAD, 2022). There is a growing corpus of research on the effectiveness of online learning, but there is a need for a thorough study that summarizes these results and offers guidance on how to assess and enhance online courses.
Since 2019, the sudden COVID-19 outbreak has had an impact on people's lives all over the world therefore Several schools had to close temporarily due to health and safety concerns(Chaturvedi et al., 2021). As educators worked to make sure students received their formal education programs, the demand for online learning quickly outgrew the traditional face-to-face learning mode.
The increased use of online education following the COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted the importance of understanding the success of online courses as well as the techniques and tools employed to analyze and enhance them(Li, 2022).
In a recent survey that was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, 48% of undergraduate and graduate students that were enrolled in degree-granting institutions had taken at least one online course during their course duration (De Brey et al., 2021). This trend of online education is expected to continue in the coming years because of the technological advancements seen progressing at a high pace, some of the estimates keep on suggesting that the global e-learning market will surpass $325 billion by 2025 (De Brey et al., 2021; Pandita et al., 2021). This growth in online learning underscores the importance of evaluating and enhancing the quality of online courses for both instructors and students for achieving milestones according to the set objectives and goals.
This proposed study will explore the effectiveness of online courses and the methods and tools used to evaluate and improve them so that it could be of use not only for students across the globe but also for the teachers as it would ease off their burden as well. The study will begin by examining the definition of online learning and highlighting its importance in higher education, especially in modern times that we are facing now and progressing with it. Afterwards, the study will identify the goals and objectives of evaluating online courses by outlining key performance indicators and success metrics along with scales and measuring units that align with institutional objectives. The study will also explore various evaluation methods, including quantitative and qualitative methods, and the importance of combining multiple approaches for comprehensive assessments and better results.