Measuring e-learning systems success

The education sector has been radically affected by developments in information technology. In the education arena, substantial funds have been invested in the systematic development of technology infrastructure. E-learning is believed to be the main platform for adopting and using new and more advanced IT in the education sector. However, measuring the success of e-learning systems is one of the key issues facing universities and educational institutions. Although considerable attention has been paid to the information systems success issue, there remain arguments about which factors are the most telling in measuring information system success. The issue of evaluation of the success of information systems generally, and e-learning systems in particular, has become more complicated due to the differing interests and needs of stakeholders. Different groups of stakeholders deal with e-learning systems in different ways - for instance, students, academic staff, ICT staff, management, and software developers. These stakeholders have substantially different objectives and often there are conflicts between their aims. This study proposes an evaluation methodology model to assess e-learning systems success. The model proposed is one which includes eight constructs: IT infrastructure services; system quality; information quality; service delivery quality; perceived usefulness; user satisfaction; customer value; and organisational value. A range of stakeholders such as students, academic staff, and ICT staff are considered in this model. Three instruments were designed to measure the perceptions of three different stakeholders towards e-learning system success. A quantitative study was conducted at University of Southern Queensland (USQ), with survey responses from 720 students who use the e-learning system, 110 academic staff members, and 22 ICT staff. The results confirm that the study model is valid and reliable to measure the success of e-learning systems from different points of view. Some of the relationships among the constructs in the study model were supported and some were not. The study contributed to the body of knowledge by providing a valid and reliable model to measure the success of e-learning systems. Moreover, this study contributes to the practitioners, recommending universities and educational institutions that develop and support e-learning systems