Developing Criteria for an On-Line Learning Environment: From the Student and Faculty Perspectives*

The research literature abounds with articles about distance learning from the perspectives of students, faculty, and administrators. Most of these articles discuss the details of transitioning to on-line learning environments. Research is beginning to pay attention to quality issues in distance learning. This article discusses a three-phase developmental study conducted in a graduate school. Students were asked to brainstorm and develop a set of quality indicators. These indicators were ranked by a second group of students. Then the indicators were given to a group of faculty for another ranking. In this study it was shown that there was a very great agreement on the relative importance of the various potential indicators of quality in courses delivered via an on-line medium.