Evaluation of the quality of online courses in higher education in context of national and international criteria: Quality certification process proposal

Because of the fast worldwide spread of the Covid-19 Coronavirus disease in a short time, a curfew has been enforced. For this reason, primary, secondary and higher education institutions were closed to decrease the impact of the epidemical in educational environments and to prevent it. Until the end of the epidemic, face-to-face teaching practice was terminated in universities, as in other educational institutions. In order to avoid interruptions in education and to ensure continuity, emergency remote teaching decisions have been taken in most countries, including Turkey. In this context, the courses were given online in web-based meeting and video conferencing applications. With the sudden increase in the demand for online courses in the pandemic, the quality of online courses has become questionable due to the inadequacy of higher education corporate informatics infrastructure, web-based applications, access conditions to courses, course contents and e- learning materials, which had quality problems before, and other negativities. Due to the problems related to these processes accelerated in the pandemic; The research topic was determined through the quality issues of online courses. In this context, with the thesis to be presented, it is predicted that the quality criteria and standards for online courses in higher education of Turkey and the implementation of the quality certification process can minimize the quality issues. In the study, a case study was conducted by choosing a qualitative research method. Within the framework of the quality assurance of distance education, national and international online course quality criteria, quality standards and quality label applications were examined.