Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between students’ variables such as age, sex, IT skills, work situation and previous experience in virtual courses and their perception about the quality in terms of satisfaction and perceived learning of a course given in a VLE. In general, the changes taking place in the field of technology have brought about a number of challenges to guarantee a quality education which responds to current needs. This makes us ask whether traditional education can respond to these needs or whether nevertheless it is necessary to develop new learning environments such as Virtual learning Environments (VLEs). Regarding this, the objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between student variables (age, sex, IT skills, work situation and previous experience in virtual courses) and their perception about the quality (in terms of satisfaction and perceived learning) of a course given in a VLE. For this purpose, 215 students studying or have graduated from Payame Noor University in Tehran students including graduate and postgraduate students were participated. All of them had some experience in VLE. In order to collect data, the questionnaire designed by Ponzurick et al. (2000) was used. The results showed that there is no significant difference between male and female on perceive learning in a VLE. Further, age can play a role on perceived learning in a VLE. The least satisfied students are those between 18 and 24 while the most satisfied are 35 or older. Also, prior students experience with VLEs does not influence on the perceived learning by the students. Further, students who work perceive a greater learning and are more satisfied than those students who do not work. Finally, the students from postgraduate courses were those who perceive most learning and who gain most satisfaction. The conclusions of this study suggest some interesting directions for future training actions carried out in VLEs.

Keywords:

Educational quality, traditional education, VLE,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.