Multicriteria analysis of e-learning courses

Ioannis Petasakis, Theodosios Theodosiou, Ioannis Kazanidis and Stavros Valsamidis

International Journal of Data Analysis Techniques and Strategies, 2015, vol. 7, issue 2, 203-215

Abstract: In this paper, the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method weighted sum model (WSM) is applied in order to evaluate online courses uploaded in the learning management system (LMS) of the Department of Accountancy of Kavala's Institute of Technology. The linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test are also applied to analyse the LMS data. Seven factors are used, namely, the four-criteria TAM, quality, quantity and utilisation of e-learning platform utilities and three other attribures i.e., year of study, type of course and the mean grade at the exams. The evaluation process took place in three distinct phases. In the first phase the weights of the aforementioned first four criteria were estimated. At the second phase the students evaluated the online courses. The courses were indexed with the use of the WSM and were assigned a ranking score. After the second phase, the educators were informed about the indexing results. Most of them tried to improve their courses in terms of educational material. Two months later, the evaluation process was repeated and most of the scores were higher than the corresponding ones of the former phase. The results of both phases indicate that the TAM group criterion is considered as the most important one, whereas the utilisation as the least important.

Keywords: online courses; course assessment; TAM; technology acceptance model; weighted sum model; WSM; linear discriminant analysis; LDA; Wilcoxon signed-rank test; data analysis techniques; multicriteria decision analysis; MCDA; e-learning; electronic learning; online learning; learning management systems; LMS; higher education; Greece. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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