Quality of service, quality of experience and online learning

Abstract

Online learning tools are widely used in engineering education. This includes traditional face-to-face, but also distance education. Since these tools rely on Internet connections, the performance of those connections (speed, latency) can impact on how learning tools are experienced by students. Quality of Service (QoS) describes technical performance parameters that reflect the quality of an Internet connection. Quality of Experience (QoE) on the other hand has been widely used to describe how users experience a particular service. In the context of this work, users are students undertaking learning tasks. While technical literature addresses QoE and educational literature discusses online learning, a gap exists describing the relationship of QoS and the quality of the learning experience. This work uses a mixed methods approach to address the research question: What dimensions of QoE of online learning can be affected by QoS? To answers this question, two groups of students were exposed to changing QoS conditions while they were undertaking an online learning activity using remote access technology. Both technical performance parameters, as well as, the impressions where recorded. Subsequently, a focus group was held to get a better understanding of the students' perception of the relationship between QoS, QoE and online learning tools. It is concluded that QoS factors only have an intermediate impact on the quality of the learning experience of the students. Factors such as course design and pedagogy largely determine the quality of online learning.