Evaluation of an International Postgraduate eLearning Programme.

New forms of eLearning support systems have been introduced to higher education to help meet student-centred learning paradigms. ELearning continues to develop rapidly, supported by increasing sophistication of information technology, and by better understanding of how to make course content and delivery more effective. While the development in eLearning has been exciting and beneficial, finding ways of enhancing the quality of provision has posed a serious challenge. This paper evaluates the implementation of an international MBA eLearning programme of a UK university, with a focus on one of its largest overseas sites - Oman. The main objective was to investigate the eLearning perceptions and experiences of the students and to use the findings to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning system to enhance course design and delivery. A longitudinal semi-structured questionnaire approach was used, with four rounds of data collected between 2008 and 2011. In addition to survey question responses, comments and suggestions were invited from the respondents. This paper discusses the results of the most recent survey, carried out online in 2011. Overall, the findings indicate a high level of satisfaction with the programme following changes made based on findings from previous surveys. However the new findings suggest further changes are desirable in the structure and content of the eLearning approach. In particular, the perceptions of the students suggested room for improvement in the following areas: communication and student support; learning support systems; assignment and examination support and feedback. It is hoped that this research can offer valuable insights to this university and to the wider academic audience of eLearning course developers and managers involved in current or prospective overseas eLearning programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]