The Turkish Version of Web-Based Learning Platform Evaluation Scale: Reliability and Validity Study.

The Internet, with its wide array of functions, has become a highly valuable source of information (Yigit, Yildirim, & Ozden, 2000). In addition, it can be used as an effective teaching tool, owing to its ability to disseminate educational information in accordance with the scope and objectives of certain curriculums (Smith & Rogan, 1993). Studies have shown that the Internet is quickly becoming an important tool for the purpose of learning, teaching and obtaining information (Merrill & Goodman, 1972; Reiser & Gagne, 1983). In recent years, the number of web-based education applications has been increasing at a remarkable rate (Jackson, 2000), and many institutions and individuals prefer to provide education/training via the Internet, in accordance with the latest requirements. In this regard, personal/informal as well as institutional/formal web-based learning platforms have become widely used.However, because of the wide variety of web-based learning applications and the lack of specific evaluation tools to effectively evaluate these web-based learning environments, it has been difficult for users (i.e. teachers/students/domain experts) to select the most suitable web-based learning applications among the many samples. Since studies continue to indicate that the educational and technological qualities of the web-based learning platforms can effectively enhance the quality of education and promote success (Dag & Buluc Kirikkaya, 2012; Jackson, 2000), the issue of how a web-based application should be selected/evaluated has become increasingly important.Web-Based Learning Applications and SelectionWeb-based learning applications, which consist of different components, are used to present teaching contents through interactive exercises and multimedia materials. In addition, based on these components, the teaching strategies determine how these contents are presented, whereas certain tools can improve access to such contents (Pahl, 2003). Previous studies have shown that web-based learning is an original approach that utilises technological features and interface components as instructional tools (Allen & Allen, 2002; Horton, 2000; Pahl, 2003). In the development and evaluation of effective web-based learning applications, all of the technological, pedagogical and content-related components should be considered (Clark & Mayer, 2008; Dietinger, 2003). In the literature related to the development and usability of websites, especially in regard to their design criteria (Bevan, 2005; U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2006), some studies have focused on the development scale(s) for the design and evaluation of educational web-based applications (Cakiroglu, Akkan, & Cebi, 2008; Hajerrouit, 2010; Henke, 2001). These studies generally examined the interface components of web-based learning applications and focused on design principles in terms of their usability factor (Hasan, 2014; Silius & Tervakari, 2003; Oztekin, Kong, & Uysal, 2010). In general, previous studies on the design of web-based learning have focused on the technological dimensions of such applications. However, limited studies have evaluated all of the components of web-based learning platforms and the development of standardbased evaluation criteria and measurement tools (Atec, 2013; Hsu, Yeh, & Yen, 2009). Moreover, some research related to the evaluation of web-based learning platforms only focused on a certain field of education (e.g. foreign language) (Liu, Liu, & Hwang, 2011; Yang & Chan, 2008). Thus, for effective and successful web-based learning, studies need to identify the standards for evaluating web-based learning platforms, especially in terms of educational, technological and pedagogical aspects (Dabbagh, 2005). The measures set forth in the aforementioned studies related to the design, selection and evaluation of web-based learning applications appear to be similar (Atec, 2013; Cakiroglu et al. …