Factors affecting the quality of online courses in newly established universities in Saudi Arabia: academic staff perspective

In Saudi Arabian higher education institutions, online courses are growing in popularity. The widespread use of online courses is beneficial when it comes to solving certain problems that newer universities needed to deal with. As a result, the quality of these online courses must be kept high, to make sure that the institutions using them and their students have the greatest possible benefit. This paper aims to investigate the factors affecting the quality of online courses in newly established universities from an academic staff perspective. The selected universities for this research were Aljouf University (JU), University of Hail (UoH), and Northern Border University (NBU). The proposed research model includes five variables: Course Content Quality (CCQ), Course Usability (CU), Course Design Quality (CDQ), Course Continual Enhancement (CCE), and Technical Support Quality (TSQ). In addition, Service Quality (SQ) mediating influences were also examined. The outcomes showed that the suggested variables have a clear effect on the academic staff attitudes regarding the quality of online courses. Further, it was shown that Service Quality has a certain mediating effect on the relationship of Course Design Quality and Online Courses Quality. The paper ends with ideas for further research.

International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning