Evaluating the quality of e-learning at the degree level in the student experience of blended learning Paul Ginns and Rob A. Ellis Dr Paul Ginns is a Lecturer in Educational Psychology at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Associate Professor Rob Ellis is the Director of eLearning at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Address for correspondence: Dr Paul Ginns, Faculty of Education and SocialWork, Education Building A35, University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia. Email: p.ginns@usyd.edu.au Abstract This paper reports on the development of a scale for determining the quality of the student e-learning experience at the degree level when the student learn- ing context is predominately a campus-based experience. Rapid developments in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in higher education require methods for evaluating the contribution of such tools to student learning, especially when they are complementing a face-to-face expe- rience. We examine the psychometric functioning of a proposed e-learning scale in relation to a well-validated degree-level teaching evaluation instru- ment, the Student Course Experience Questionnaire. The e-learning scale has suitable reliability and validity in the present sample of undergraduate stu- dents for quality assurance activities around ICT. Introduction In the past 10 years, largely driven by the increasing pervasiveness of the Internet, universities around the world have perceived a growing need to incorporate informa- tion and communication technologies (ICTs) into their offerings (Bell, Bush, Nicholson, O’Brien &Tran, 1999; Katz, 1999). However, following previous cycles of enthusiasm and discontent with educational technologies—including radio and educational tele- vision (Cuban, 1986)—the benefits from investments in many cases have not been forthcoming. One of the most recent of such failures, the United Kingdom’s ‘UKeU’ (UK eUniversities Worldwide Limited) e-learning project which began in 2000, was wound up after attracting only 900 students, despite attracting £62 million in public funding. The experience with UKeU has prompted the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to adumbrate its intended strategy for supporting the development of e-learning in English higher education institutions over the next 10 years (HEFCE, 2005). A core aim of the strategy will be to ‘support the [Higher Education] sector as it British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 40 No 4 2009 652–663 doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00861.x © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 British Educational Communications and Technology Agency. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.