Quality e-learning: Are there universal indicators?

The quality of online education is a central issue for the sustainable delivery, development and future of technology-supported learning. With the growing availability of educational technologies, educators want to know how to make the best use of them. With the expansion in e-learning adoption by institutions comes the demand for quality and accountability. A significant issue in this regard is that while there is a free and growing market in e-learning, there is also a proliferation of benchmarks and quality guidelines. This paper presents an overview of the multiple meanings of quality and benchmarks. While there may be different agendas at play, there is also consensus emerging as to what constitutes quality in online education.