Measuring performance of virtual learning environment system in higher education

Purpose – Virtual learning environments (VLE) have become a prevalent tool in higher education institutions for supporting and facilitating both teaching and learning. They form a platform for teachers and learners to access lecture notes, read announcements, communicate with others, complete assignments, participate in discussions and group work, and take quizzes and tests. Nowadays, there are plenty of commercial VLE systems available in the market. Each of them possesses its own characteristics and features. The purpose of this paper is to measure the performance of these systems, which helps the decision makers to select the appropriate system for their institutions. Design/methodology/approach – This paper develops an integrated multiple criteria decision making approach, which combines the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and quality function deployment (QFD), to evaluate and select the best system. The evaluating criteria are derived from the requirements of those who use the system. A case study is provided to demonstrate how the integrated approach works. Findings – The major advantage of the integrated approach is that the evaluating criteria are of interest to the stakeholders. This ensures that the selected system will achieve the requirements and satisfy the stakeholders most. Another advantage is that the approach can guarantee the benchmarking to be consistent and reliable. From the case study, it is proved