Evaluation of Open and Distance Education Websites: A Hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach

Abstract

Higher education institutions and organizations have new opportunities thanks to digital technologies. Universities worldwide seek to provide the most outstanding available student services, particularly those that promote student achievements in their program objectives. The World Wide Web, in particular, has advanced Internet-based information technology, dramatically impacting all types of education delivery. Therefore, it has rapidly expanded the Open and Distance Education (ODE) system. This study aims to evaluate the performance of the higher institutions’ ODE websites within 5 main criteria (Navigation, Accessibility, Design, Content Readability, and Announcements) and 20 sub-criteria. The case study has taken place in Türkiye, and the institutions available for the study were Anadolu University ODE; Ankara University ODE; Ataturk University ODE; Istanbul University ODE. This paper utilized two Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques: Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP) and Fuzzy Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (Fuzzy WASPAS). The criteria were determined with the help of the literature, which was searched, then categorized and weighted with Fuzzy AHP. The evaluation step in the process was conducted with Fuzzy WASPAS to select the best-performed alternative ODE websites. According to research findings, Design is the essential criterion, followed by Accessibility, Content Readability, Announcement, and Navigation criteria. Our research identified and recommended the development areas for further research and proposed theoretical and practical implications as well as managerial decisions to be considered for the ODE website improvements.

Keywords

• open education
• distance education
• website performance
• evaluation
• multi-criteria decision-making
• MCDM