Classification and tendencies of evaluations in e-learning

The use of information technology in education is a very promising field which has led to many paradigms, educational models and the implementation of e-learning systems that are effectively used in education and training. For educators, training professionals and corporate managers, it is always hectic to choose the right approach and accordingly the e-learning system that fit their actual business needs. This is mainly due to the lack of comprehensive studies done to assess and compare existing systems that allow guiding stakeholders choosing the right e-learning system for the right learners in the right learning context. This paper is a contribution towards this direction; it proposes an overview of approaches that have been conducted to assess e-learning systems. From this study we propose a classification of approaches and e-learning systems that is based on four main criteria: i) Who: that deals with the stakeholders and actors of learning systems; ii) What: which represents the elements of an e-learning system to evaluate; iii) When: addresses the phase of development of the e-learning system in which the assessment is done; iv) Which: the method used to evaluate the systems. The results of this work are presented and discussed in this paper.