Abstract:

The aim is to show a set of categories and characteristics obtained from a literature review based on studies for implementation of e-learning in higher education in order to identify ways to assess this implementation, taking into account especially institutional aspects.

Some previous works have reported about the usage or the effect after implanting a learning platform, barriers, issues and critical success factors affecting e-learning adoption. But there are few papers describing the aspects required to implement an e-learning solution and how evaluate it. Thus, the research question proposed was: Which are the institutional characteristics taken into account for implementing e-learning worldwide?

We used benchmarking methods and documentary analysis for extracting characteristics of studies of the implementation of e-learning based on systematic literature review. We searched on structured databases through a search equation between 2000 and 2015. This work was done through 3 stages:
i) Selecting papers - taking into account title, abstract and keywords, article fully available and aligned with the topic of institutional characteristics and assessment in the implementation of e-learning,
ii) Extracting characteristics of selected papers - here was selected the main characteristics of each study, and
iii) Benchmarking and grouping of characteristics in the categories - this stage was performed through a benchmarking of the features extracted and then classified it in the categories emergent.

The finding shows the main categories emergent: communication, evaluation, functional and structural aspects, management, planning, resource support, training, technical support and quality. The characteristics identified from literature review were: structure of organization, economic and financial resources, leadership, politics, standards and procedures, organizational culture, beliefs of professors, quality assurance, selection of a technological platform, quality evaluation of platform, planning, design, production, presentation, availability and evaluation of e-learning project. Finally, this results gathering in our paper of the main institutional characteristics identified in several academic works and provides a practical framework easy to consult for the implementation of e-learning in higher education.

Keywords:

e-learning, characteristics, higher education, online education, implementation of e-learning.