REVIEW OF EVALUATION OF QUALITY OF DISTANCE LEARNING COURSES: STANDARDS, CRITERIA AND METHODS

The main aim of this paper is to review, analyse and present distance learning courses (DLC) quality evaluation problem and possible methods, standards and principles of identifying quality criteria. Usually, DLC quality evaluation is performed by experts in the relevant area. High-quality education is important for cultural, social, and economic development of the society as well as for business and industry, and future development of science. Possibility to learn at a convenient time and place has determined the emergence of a new form of distance studies DLC, hence the relevance of the topic. The diversity of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their application to e-studies do not in themselves determine the effectiveness of studies process. The quality of distance learning course depends on several factors such as clearly and interestingly presented learning material, well organised learning process, usage of suitable ICTs, relevance of DLC material, students' motivation, teachers' qualification and professionalism, etc. An educational institution follows its own quality criteria formulated, or evaluates DLC intuitively. In any case, there are common principles and standards for quality criteria. There is also experience of quality evaluation of e-courses applying different methods including Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods, using experts' identified values according to provided quality criteria as well as the weights (i.e. importance) of the DLC quality criteria, Bayesian approach.