Ukrainian E-Learning Platforms for Schools: Evaluation of Their Functionality

This article defines 27 criteria for evaluating the functionality of e-learning platforms, grouped into three macro groups: (a) learning management, (b) learning content management, and (c) communications and collaboration tools. The proposed criteria can be used to evaluate any e-learning platform’s functionality. They allow teachers and administrators to make conscious choices about the highest-quality e-learning platform for their schools and developers to improve e-learning platforms’ functionality. The developed criteria became the basis for rating the functionality of Ukrainian developers’ eight e-learning platforms’ and determining the degree of support (in whole or partly) of e-learning components, categorized on the cognitive, social constructivist, motivation, and e-learning theories (CT, SCT, MT, and E-LT). The results indicate that the lack of communication and collaboration tools necessary to ensure quality distance learning is the main problem of Ukrainian e-leaning platforms. Comparative analysis of the functionality of e-learning platforms and components categorized on the learning theories helped determine that only three of the eight Ukrainian e-learning platforms (Accent [Mobischool], Class Assessment, My Class) fully follow the CT, SCT, and MT, but these platforms are all commercial products; therefore, they only partially support the E-LT. Solving this problem will be facilitated by developing e-learning platforms with open access, financed by the state budget in the context of the development of open and distance learning for Ukrainian students, as well as improving communication and collaboration tools in the context of conforming e-learning components to the social constructivist learning theory.


Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all educational institutions in the world. The government of Ukraine, trying to restrain the spread of COVID-19, decided to close all educational institutions on March 12, 2020. This lockdown lasted until the end of the school year (May 2020). According to UNESCO's global monitoring, this nationwide closure affected 1,676,550 primary school students and 2,376,878 secondary school students in Ukraine (UNESCO, 2020), all of whom massively moved to distance learning.
Distance education is defined by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology as "institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources and instructors" (Parchure, 2016, p. 63). The distance learning format has actualized teachers' use of e-learning platforms that differ both in structure and offered functions. Piotrowski (2010, p. 20) defines e-learning platforms as "software that provides the technical infrastructure on which e-learning activities can take place." Ouadoud et al. (2016b, p. 582) emphasize that "a type LMS (Learning Management System) e-learning platform is a software including services to assist teachers in the management of their course" Ecoutin (2000, p. 5) describes open and distance learning platforms as software that assists in distance learning and combines the tools needed "for the three main users-teacher, student, administrator." An important problem in the implementation of e-learning platforms in distance education is the lack of clear criteria for assessing their quality. In evaluating e-learning platforms, Tomczyk et al. (2020) looked at the following criteria in teachers' and students' surveys: general course quality, professionally prepared materials, content usefulness, visual design, and the innovative character of platforms. Pandu and Fajar (2019) and Abubakari et al. (2021) evaluated e-learning platforms via the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ). The UEQ consists of six scales with 26 items reflecting the following basic components: (a) attractiveness, (b) dependability, (c) efficiency, (d) perspicuity, (e) novelty, and (f) stimulation (Abubakari et al., 2021, p 4;Schrepp, 2015).
However, surveys of students and teachers mostly provide their opinions about using e-learning platforms (Pandu & Fajar, 2019, p. 1) and are not sufficient in evaluating e-learning platforms' functionality and their ability to provide quality distance learning based on the e-learning components categorized by the following learning theories: cognitive theory (CT), social constructivist theory (SCT), motivation theory (MT), and e-learning theory (E-LT) (Kumar & Sharma, 2021;Schunk, 2020).
Defining criteria that can be used to rate the functionality of e-learning platforms, and to determine their effectiveness in the context of existing learning theories, will allow teachers and administrators to make a conscious choice about the highest-quality e-learning platform to use at their schools, and it will allow developers to see how to improve the functionality of their e-learning platforms.
The objectives of this study were twofold: 1. to define criteria for assessing the functionality of e-learning platforms; and 2. to perform a rating assessment of the functionality of Ukrainian developers' e-learning platforms and determine the degree of Ukrainian platforms' support (in whole or in part) of elearning components categorized by the CT, SCT, MT, and E-LT learning theories. Ouadoud et al. (2016a) developed the approach for the quality evaluation of e-learning platforms, which is based on "the quality model interactive systems" (Ouadoud et al., 2016a, p. 13)

of International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard number 25010: "The product quality model categorizes product quality properties into eight characteristics (functional suitability, reliability, performance efficiency, usability, security, compatibility, maintainability and portability). Each characteristic is composed of a set of related subcharacteristics" (ISO, 2011, s. 4.2). The researchers combined the characteristics presented in ISO standard 25010 into two categories-utility and usability-each of which was divided into subcategories (Ouadoud et al., 2016a, pp. 16-17, 19), which are presented in Tables 1 and 2. Characteristics selected for evaluating an e-learning platform are developed via a software engineering approach with an emphasis on the technical aspects of the e-learning platform. In this study, we analyzed the quality of the e-learning platforms by one characteristic only: functional suitability. This helped us to determine how certain functionalities of a platform help with implementing e-learning components, defined according to different learning theories. Table 1 summarizes the sub-characteristics of the functional suitability of e-learning platforms proposed by Ouadoud et al (2016a). The list of functional suitability sub-characteristics were modified and supplemented by functional characteristics, which, according to Colace et al. (2002), "must be absolutely present in an on-line learning platform." (Colace et al., 2002, p. 7) The following are the particular functional characteristics (Colace et al., 2002, pp. 6-7): • progress tracking, • multiple course management, • student groups' creation and management, • content inclusion in accordance with standards, • content importation, • new course creation in accordance with standards, • course importation from other producers, • reports on course frequency or use, • test creation, • course catalogue, • multiple-choice tests, • reports on test results, and • automatic evaluation of tests.
Important services that are necessary for efficiently training the authors of the mentioned research online include "textual or vocal chat, whiteboard, live video stream, virtual classroom, application and file sharing" (Colace et al., 2002, p. 5 testing, e-commerce capabilities (the ability to sell online courses), and virtual classrooms.

Social learning and collaboration: This includes support social learning with collaboration
features (live chat, blog modules, Web conference integration, following concept, content sharing and rating, discussion boards, file sharing, integration with social media networks, profiling and expertise capabilities, and gamification tools).
The works of Baggia et al. (2019), Colace et al. (2002), and Ouadoud et al. (2016a) became the basis for developing criteria for assessing the functionality of e-learning platforms, presented in the results this study. Kumar and Sharma (2021, p. 11) emphasize that "e-learning components, identified from the learning theories are very much important for any platform. If these components are not integrated in the platforms, the success of learning cannot be guaranteed." In analyzing the theoretical perspective of elearning pedagogy, Kumar and Sharma (2021) derived the following characteristics for a successful elearning framework: learner-centered, eco-sustainability, socioeconomic/cost-effectiveness, connectivity/networking, increased accessibility, on-demand availability, interaction, participation, cooperation, collaboration, motivation, engaging, communication, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, intriguing ideas, self-determination, competence, autonomy, relatedness, cognitive effectiveness, convenient, reliability, efficiency, achievement, personalization, self-pacing, constructive alignment, higher learning outcomes, learner satisfaction, confidence, peer review, evaluation/assessment/feedback from instructors, improved tracking, flexibility, skills and knowledge improvement, and learner satisfaction. These characteristics can be further divided according to the four major learning theories (CT, SCT, MT, and E-LT) (Kumar & Sharma, 2021, p. 4), shown in Table   2. Our study of functionality of an e-learning platform in the context of their compliance of e-learning components, identified from the learning theories, will answer our main question: How well does an elearning platform help to achieve the goals of the learning process?

Methods
This study was conducted in four stages: (a) searching scientific sources devoted to the problem of were analyzed, as the permission to use the platforms is granted for five years. Qualitative analysis of the protocols was based on the search phrases educational platform, educational system, and online platform, which allowed us to single out e-learning platforms among EERs of different types. Using an online information retrieval method, using the search query distance learning platforms and services, the All-Ukrainian School Online platform-developed in late 2020 with support from the Ukraine Ministry of Education and Science in response to distance learning challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic-was added to our list of e-learning platforms.
Note that highly specialized platforms that are focused on in-depth study of a particular disciplinesuch as Lingva.Skills for the social project for learning foreign languages, Indigo Mental Training Club, and GIOS for learning mathematics-remained outside the scope of this study.

Stage 3
Developing the criteria for assessing e-learning platforms' functionality became the basis for qualitative analysis of e-learning platforms that were included in the list identified in the second stage. Each function was coded with one tag (+ or −) to remark on the presence or absence of a particular feature (i.e., the tag learners' management + is used to indicate the presence of the learners' management function).
The presence or absence of certain functionality of e-learning platforms was studied by qualitative

Stage 4
Comparative analysis of the functionality of e-learning platforms and e-learning components categorized on the learning allowed us to determine the degree of support (fully or partially) Ukrainian e-learning platforms of different e-learning components categorized on the CT, SCT, MT and E-LT.
Mathematical methods were used for processing the survey results, and graphical methods were used to construct diagrams and tables.

Criteria for Evaluating E-Learning Platforms' Functionality
The  (Table 3).
A learning content management system includes "all the functions enabling creation, description, importation or exportation of contents as well as their reuse and sharing" (Colace et al., 2002, p. 2). "Set of Tools represents all the services that manage teaching processes and interactions among users" (Colace et al., 2002, p. 9). Whereas distance education technologies are divided into two modes of delivery, namely, synchronous learning (all participants are present at the same time) and asynchronous learning (participants access course materials flexibly on their own schedule) (Parchure, 2016), communication tools between teachers and students are divided into "two fundamental categories: asynchronous communication tools and synchronous communication tools" (Colace et al., 2002, p. 5). Therefore, the described approach made it possible to propose 27 criteria for evaluating the functionality of e-learning platforms, presented in Table 3.  Table 4 presents the e-learning platforms selected for assessment and created by Ukrainian developers over the last five years. The platforms are arranged chronologically depending on the year of development. Each platform is assigned a code number (Table 4), which presents the results of a qualitative analysis of the functionality of the selected e-learning platforms in accordance with the evaluation criteria proposed in Table 3.

Communication and collaboration tools
Asynchronous communication tools
The top five e-learning platforms in terms of functionality are Class Assessment, Accent (Mobischool), My Class, Classtime, and The Only School (Figure 1).

Ratings of Analyzed Platforms
The availability of communication and collaboration tools-such as whiteboards and virtual classrooms, which are necessary to ensure quality distance learning-is most problematic in these e-learning

Learning management Content management Communication and collaboration tools
platforms. The application sharing function, which is important during studying such subjects as computer science and technology, is not supported by any of the analyzed platforms. Only two analyzed platforms, Class Assessment and Classtime, support gamification tools. The first platform allows a creation of quizzes for students; the second allows a creation of team games and puzzles. Insufficient attention from developers of Ukrainian e-learning platforms to communication and collaboration tools negatively affects the quality of distance learning with these platforms: "Collaboration during problemsolving is one of the skills best promoted by modern e-learning" (Abubakari et al., 2021, p. 3).
An evaluation of the functionality of the e-learning platforms according to the criteria (Table 3) and the e-learning components categorized on the learning theories ( that follow the Social Constructivist theory pedagogy will in turn deliver motivational and cognitive components" (Kumar & Sharma, 2021, p. 6).
The Accent (Mobischool), Class Assessment, and My Class e-learning platforms follow all three learning theory pedagogies completely. However, since these are commercial products, they only partially support the E-LT, which assumes increased accessibility and on-demand availability.  (Zhenchenko et al., 2020, p. 732). Ouadoud et al. (2016aOuadoud et al. ( , 2016b   Assessing the functionality of e-learning platforms in the context of compliance e-learning components categorized on the learning theories (Kumar & Sharma, 2021) will allow developers to develop elearning platforms that follow all four learning theories (CT, SCT, MT, E-LT) completely.

Discussion
Various aspects of e-learning platforms' usability need further research via the UEQ (Pandu & Fajar, 2019, Abubakari et al., 2021 to improve teachers' and students' ability to use them. An in-depth assessment of student-teacher interaction through e-learning platforms can be based on Responsive Interactions for Learning (RIFL) measures-educator (RIFL-Ed) version (Rodrigues et al., 2021).

Conclusion and Implications
To assess the functionality of an e-learning platform, 27 criteria have been defined. They were grouped into three macro groups: (a) learning management, (b) learning content management, and (c) communications and collaboration tools. These criteria became the basis for rating assessment and determining the degree of support for various learning theories of the seven Ukrainian commercial platforms (Accent [Mobischool], Class Assessment, My Class, Pidruchnyk.ua, Euclid, Classtime, and The Only School) and the free platform All-Ukrainian School Online, developed in December 2021 by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to solve the problem of accessibility within quality distance education in Ukraine.
The main problem with Ukrainian e-leaning platforms is the lack of communication and collaboration tools necessary to ensure quality distance learning. The most common means of communication that support an e-learning platform are e-mails and chats. Only two platforms (Accent [Mobischool] and Class Assessment) provide whiteboard and virtual classroom functions, and two platforms (Class Assessment and Classtime) have gamification tools. Therefore, only three of the eight e-learning platforms follow the CT, SCT, and MT theories completely, but these are commercial products; hence, they support E-LT only partially.
The proposed criteria for assessing the functionality of e-learning platforms in the pedagogical aspect, taking into account the support of e-learning components according to the e-learning theories, can be used to assess and test functionality in developing new e-learning platforms and improving functionality in already-existing ones.