Success Factors in Online Architectural Education: Comprehensive Analysis of Digital Learning Platforms

Organization, Technology and Management in Construction: an International Journal

Volume 17 (2025): Issue 1 (January 2025)

By:

Gulden Gumusburun Ayalp and Yusuf Berkay Metinal

Open Access

|May 2025

Figures & Tables

Research methodology framework. SCs, success criteria.

Flow diagram of the research protocol within the scope of SLR. SLR, systematic literature review.

Hypothesis test results of digital platforms and factors

Factor	Digital platforms												Sig.
	Zoom			Google Meet			Microsoft Teams			Other
	X¯\overline {\rm{X}}	n	SD	X¯\overline {\rm{X}}	n	SD	X¯\overline {\rm{X}}	n	SD	X¯\overline {\rm{X}}	n	SD
TT	33.91	155	11.33	40.84	13	9.58	42.28	53	7.87	25.81	11	13.82	0.000
HP	35.21	155	14.06	45.38	13	11.18	45.23	53	9.17	28.27	11	13.69	0.000
P	29.24	155	9.29	31.08	13	8.18	33.30	53	5.95	20.82	11	9.55	0.000
ICS	32.22	155	10.42	34.77	13	11.30	38.19	53	6.94	23.18	11	11.28	0.000
EA	67.86	155	22.37	74.54	13	18.94	76.51	53	12.93	49.18	11	25.96	0.000
EF	10.28	155	3.66	11.77	13	3.44	11.75	53	2.41	8.27	11	4.71	0.004
OF	6.25	155	2.75	7.15	13	2.97	7.92	53	2.16	5.27	11	3.23	0.000

Criteria that affect the success of OAE

Factors	Code of SC	SCs	Source
TT	T1	Lack of an adequate technical background to solve networking and software-related issues	Koenig and Schneider (2019), Muilenburg and Berge (2005), Newman et al. (2018) and Nubani and Lee (2022)
	T2	Technical issues	Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Brzezicki (2020), Megahed and Hassan (2022) and Peimani and Kamalipour (2021b)
	T3	Lack of fast and stable Internet connection	Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Bhandari et al. (2020), Brzezicki (2020), Headley et al. (2015), Ibrahim et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022), Khan and Thilagam (2022), Miller (2001), Milovanović et al. (2020), Muilenburg and Berge (2005) and Peimani and Kamalipour (2021b, 2021a)
	T4	Opportunity to access recorded lectures and juries at any time	Al Maani et al. (2021), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Ceylan et al. (2021a), George (2018), Iranmanesh and Onur (2021), Newman et al. (2018) and Peimani and Kamalipour (2021b)
	T5	Low-screen resolution quality - The screen resolution makes it difficult to see the design work in detail	da Silveira (2008), Miller (2001) and Sahuc (2021)
	T6	Flexibility to run the applications on a variety of devices (e.g. mobile devices, tablets and laptops)	Alnusairat et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022) and Scatena et al. (2021)
TT	T7	The emergence of cyber security risks	Koenig and Schneider (2019), Mayer (2021), Peimani and Kamalipour (2021b) and Schwarz et al. (2020)
	T8	Insufficient screen resolution to accurately display and critique scaled drawings	Brzezicki (2020), da Silveira (2008) and Sahuc (2021)
	T9	Lack of the possibility of drawing or sketching on the screen; difficulties with using the mouse for sketching	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Brzezicki (2020) and Sahuc (2021)
	T10	Issues with the availability of up-to-date and appropriate hardware and software platforms	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Khan and Thilagam (2022), Koenig and Schneider (2019), Mayer (2021), Milovanović et al. (2020), Muilenburg and Berge (2005), Nubani and Lee (2022), Peimani and Kamalipour (2021a), Sahuc (2021), Tandon et al. (2022) and Varma and Jafri (2021)
	T11	The need for user-friendly interfaces and applications to make e-learning easy	Alnusairat et al. (2021), Koenig and Schneider (2019) and Tandon et al. (2022)
HP	HP1	Lack of guidance and support	Al Maani et al. (2021), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Asadpour (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Mayer (2021) and Travis (2022)
	HP2	Lack of privacy (felt by both teachers and students)	Asadpour (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Becker et al. (2013), Ibrahim et al. (2021) and Koenig and Schneider (2019)
	HP3	Time and workload management (i.e. an increase in the number of tasks	Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Bhandari et al. (2020), Ibrahim et al. (2021) and, Varma and Jafri (2021)
	HP4	Increased sense of isolation and disconnection from peers and colleagues	Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), George (2018), Megahed and Hassan (2022), Muilenburg and Berge (2005), Nubani and Lee (2022) and Sahuc (2021)
	HP5	Psychological problems/negative feelings that could lead to alienation, uncertainty, confusion and identity loss	Al Maani et al. (2021), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Ceylan et al. (2021a), Ibrahim et al. (2021), Megahed and Hassan (2022), Nubani and Lee (2022), Peimani and Kamalipour (2021a) and Reza Saghafi et al. (2012)
	HP6	The dissolved boundaries between the work environment and home environment (i.e. struggle with establishing boundaries between work and family)	Ibrahim et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022), Megahed and Hassan (2022) and Schwarz et al. (2020)
HP	HP7	When feedback is delayed, students feel stress, frustration and confusion	Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), da Silveira (2008) and Travis (2022)
	HP8	The lack of emotional connection	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Nubani and Lee (2022) and Senyapili and Karakaya (2009)
	HP9	Insufficiency of self-discipline and concentration issues	Bhandari et al. (2020), Peimani and Kamalipour (2021b), Tandon et al. (2022) and Varma and Jafri (2021)
	HP10	Extended working hours for instructors	Alnusairat et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022) and Megahed and Hassan (2022)
	HP11	Instructors are struggling to keep students concentrated throughout the lesson	Alatni et al. (2021), Ibrahim et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022), Mayer (2021) and Varma and Jafri (2021)
	HP12	Instructors are struggling to motivate students to ask questions	Alatni et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022), Mayer (2021) and Nubani and Lee (2022)
P	P1	Online learning enables students to customise their experience based on their learning style	Khan and Thilagam (2021), Newman et al. (2018), Nubani and Lee (2022) and Travis (2022)
	P2	Enabling students to discover their potential and develop their abilities	Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Shannon et al. (2013) and Travis (2022)
	P3	Students are deprived of this opportunity because the university is unable to create a campus culture and university spirit online	Mayer (2021), Nubani and Lee (2022) and Reza Saghafi et al. (2012)
	P4	It helps students realise their productive ability under suddenly changing conditions	Alnusairat et al. (2021), Ceylan et al. (2021a), Shannon et al. (2013) and Travis (2022)
	P5	Participants’ designs and presentations become rather dull without facial expressions and body language	Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Mayer (2021), Miller (2001) and Scatena et al. (2021)
	P6	Expectations from students to be more responsible for their education	Al Maani et al. (2021), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Asadpour (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Ceylan et al. (2021a), Iranmanesh and Onur (2021), Khan and Thilagam (2022), Newman et al. (2018), Reza Saghafi et al. (2012), Soccio et al. (2021), Tandon et al. (2022) and Travis (2022)
	P7	Opportunity to improve computer skills	Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022) and Nubani and Lee (2022)
P	P8	Lack of skills to utilise devices or facilities (the need for more time and practice to use new software and applications)	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022) and Nubani and Lee (2022)
P	P9	Instructors’ inability to integrate technology or insufficient software skills (which influences the efficiency of the course)	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Asadpour (2021), Khan and Thilagam (2022), Megahed and Hassan (2022), Newman et al. (2018), Reza Saghafi et al. (2012) and Varma and Jafri (2021)
ICS	ISC1	Students need help in understanding online lectures, design juries and critiques	Asadpour (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Nubani and Lee (2022), Scatena et al. (2021), Tandon et al. (2022) and Travis (2022)
	ISC2	Lack of peer learning	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Al Maani et al. (2021), Mayer (2021), Megahed and Hassan (2022), Newman et al. (2018), Nubani and Lee (2022), Peimani and Kamalipour (2021a), Reza Saghafi et al. (2012), Scatena et al. (2021), Senyapili and Karakaya (2009) and Taslı-Pektas (2012)
	ISC3	Students are uncomfortable because they cannot view their classmates’ progress and projects	Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), George (2018), Nubani and Lee (2022), Peimani and Kamalipour (2021a) and Scatena et al. (2021)
	ISC4	Lack of interaction, communication and cooperation among students	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Becker et al. (2013), Brzezicki (2020), Masdéu and Fuses (2017), Mayer (2021), Muilenburg and Berge (2005), Nubani and Lee (2022), Peimani and Kamalipour (2021a) and Scatena et al. (2021)
	ISC5	Low interaction and communication issues among students and between students and instructors	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Al Maani et al. (2021), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Becker et al. (2013), Brzezicki (2020), Ibrahim et al. (2021), Masdéu and Fuses (2017), Mayer (2021), Muilenburg and Berge (2005), Nubani and Lee (2022), Peimani and Kamalipour (2021a), Scatena et al. (2021), Senyapili and Karakaya (2009) and Taslı-Pektas (2012)
ICS	ISC6	The potential to collaborate with institutions and professionals all around the world	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), da Silveira (2008), Koenig and Schneider (2019), Masdéu and Fuses (2017), Megahed and Hassan (2022), Shannon et al. (2013), Travis (2022) and Yu et al. (2022)
	ISC7	Removal of geographic barriers	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), da Silveira (2008), Headley et al. (2015), Ibrahim et al. (2021), Khan and Thilagam (2022, 2021), Masdéu and Fuses (2017), Miller (2001), Milovanović et al. (2020), Newman et al. (2018), Peimani and Kamalipour (2021b), Sahuc (2021), Scatena et al. (2021), Schwarz et al. (2020), Senyapili and Karakaya (2009), Travis (2022) and Varma and Jafri (2021)
	ISC8	The difficulties in understanding teachers’ instructions online	Al Maani et al. (2021), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Asadpour (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Muilenburg and Berge (2005), Nubani and Lee (2022), Scatena et al. (2021), Tandon et al. (2022) and Travis (2022)
	ISC9	It increases cooperation and interaction between universities and students nationally and internationally	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Ibrahim et al. (2021), Kukina et al. (2016), Masdéu and Fuses (2017), Shannon et al. (2013) and Travis (2022)
	ISC10	Students’ previous familiarity with the tutors positively affects lessons, projects and assignments	Asadpour (2021), Ibrahim et al. (2021) and Shannon et al. (2013)
EA	EA1	It provides convenience for students to deliver course outputs (homework, etc.) to instructors	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), George (2018) and Vásquez De Velasco (2007)
	EA2	Working with 3D models and animations without hand sketches or physical models makes expressing design ideas difficult	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Al Maani et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Mayer (2021) and Sahuc (2021)
	EA3	Inadequacy of critique frequency and quantity	Al Maani et al. (2021), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Asadpour (2021), George (2018), Shannon et al. (2013) and Travis (2022)
	EA4	Student assessment issues	Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022), Khan and Thilagam (2022), Mayer (2021), Megahed and Hassan (2022) and Tandon et al. (2022)
	EA5	Lack of immediate access to teachers’ help	Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), da Silveira (2008) and Newman et al. (2018)
EA	EA6	Concerns about cheating	Deshmukh (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022) and Newman et al. (2018)
	EA7	Providing flexibility	George (2018), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022), Khan and Thilagam (2022, 2021), Megahed and Hassan (2022), Newman et al. (2018), Nubani and Lee (2022), Schwarz et al. (2020), Shannon et al. (2013), Travis (2022) and Yu et al. (2022)
	EA8	Increased time spent on lectures and design critiques	Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022) and Megahed and Hassan (2022)
	EA9	Students are dissatisfied with the new assessment criteria adapted to online education	Al Maani et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022) and Mayer (2021)
	EA10	It allows students considerable flexibility in arranging and attending tutorials	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Headley et al. (2015), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022), Reza Saghafi et al. (2012), Shannon et al. (2013) and Varma and Jafri (2021)
	EA11	Adequate and reliable assessment tools are needed due to unsupervised exams, projects and assignments	Ibrahim et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022) and Mayer (2021)
	EA12	It allows students to take as many courses as they like within the curriculum	Schwarz et al. (2020), Tandon et al. (2022) and Travis (2022)
	EA13	It causes stereotypical designs that are far from aesthetic	Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Mayer (2021) and Tandon et al. (2022)
	EA14	There will be a biased evaluation as the students’ names are visible to the evaluators on screen while evaluating	Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022), Khan and Thilagam (2022) and Tandon et al. (2022)
	EA15	The focus is on learning the technology rather than on the information taught	Peimani and Kamalipour (2021a), Soccio et al. (2021) and Tandon et al. (2022)
	EA16	Ability to allow an unlimited number of participants to participate in courses	George (2018), Milovanović et al. (2020) and Travis (2022)
	EA17	Unfamiliarity with quiz/exam formats	Alatni et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022) and Mayer (2021)
	EA18	Instructors need to find out whether the students understand the lesson topics and contents	Alatni et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022) and Nubani and Lee (2022)
	EA19	Instructors cannot agree among themselves on student work or reconciling grades	Alatni et al. (2021), Khan and Thilagam (2022), Mayer (2021) and Megahed and Hassan (2022)
EA	EA20	Instructors are having difficulty preparing, publishing and administering online exams	Alatni et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022) and Megahed and Hassan (2022)
	EA21	Having students’ cameras turned on during online lecture sessions will significantly benefit their learning experience	Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Nubani and Lee (2022) and Peimani and Kamalipour (2021b)
	EA22	Working with drawings and 3D models in a digital environment without an adequate hand sketch prevents the designs from reaching the expected maturity level	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022) and Mayer (2021)
EF	EF1	Lack of access to resources	Al Maani et al. (2021), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Brzezicki (2020), Khan and Thilagam (2022), Koenig and Schneider (2019), Mayer (2021) and Scatena et al. (2021)
	EF2	A decrease in both the expenses for printing and its impact on the environment	Al Maani et al. (2021), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Milovanović et al. (2020), Scatena et al. (2021), Schwarz et al. (2020) and Tandon et al. (2022)
	EF3	The absolute need for accessibility to hardware such as tablets and computers	Akçay Kavakoğlu et al. (2022), Alnusairat et al. (2021), Asadpour (2021), Ibrahim et al. (2021), Khan and Thilagam (2021), Koenig and Schneider (2019), Mayer (2021), Nubani and Lee (2022) and Varma and Jafri (2021)
OF	OF1	There is a lack of privacy and a proper work environment (home, dormitory, etc.)	Asadpour (2021), Bakir and Alsaadani (2022), Ibrahim et al. (2021), Jimenez-Vicario et al. (2022), Peimani and Kamalipour (2021a) and Scatena et al. (2021)
OF	OF2	Interruptions of online lessons due to family members or environmental factors	Becker et al. (2013), Muilenburg and Berge (2005) and Peimani and Kamalipour (2021a)

Factor scores of SCs

Classification of SCs	The mean of the total factor score	Code of SCs	X¯\overline X	SD
TT	38.83	T1	3.10	1.32
		T2	3.23	1.31
		T3	3.42	1.40
		T4	3.69	1.42
		T5	3.19	1.44
		T6	3.78	1.25
		T7	2.68	1.26
		T8	3.08	1.39
TT	38.83	T9	3.33	1.40
		T10	3.09	1.38
		T11	3.25	1.31
HP	37.73	HP1	3.26	1.40
		HP2	2.76	1.28
		HP3	3.03	1.41
		HP4	3.17	1.41
		HP5	3.10	1.42
		HP6	3.12	1.41
		HP7	3.41	1.39
		HP8	3.15	1.40
		HP9	3.16	1.37
		HP10	3.24	1.41
		HP11	3.24	1.35
		HP12	3.11	1.32
P	29.87	P1	3.22	1.27
		P2	3.09	1.27
		P3	3.46	1.44
		P4	3.02	1.29
		P5	3.27	1.37
		P6	3.17	1.28
		P7	3.48	1.25
		P8	3.56	1.30
		P9	3.60	1.30
ICS	33.29	ISC1	3.22	1.31
		ISC2	3.32	1.41
		ISC3	3.06	1.39
		ISC4	3.37	1.36
		ISC5	3.30	1.37
		ISC6	3.43	1.29
		ISC7	3.60	1.25
		ISC8	3.25	1.31
		ISC9	3.28	1.31
		ISC10	3.47	1.29
EA	69.32	EA1	3.55	1.29
		EA2	2.99	1.37
		EA3	3.19	1.35
		EA4	3.08	1.32
		EA5	3.29	1.34
		EA6	3.19	1.40
		EA7	3.44	1.35
		EA8	3.25	1.34
		EA9	2.86	1.25
		EA10	3.31	1.26
EA	69.32	EA11	3.24	1.33
		EA12	3.44	1.34
		EA13	3.03	1.36
		EA14	2.81	1.34
		EA15	2.84	1.36
		EA16	3.31	1.34
		EA17	2.97	1.31
		EA18	3.25	1.37
		EA19	3.04	1.28
		EA20	3.01	1.29
		EA21	3.06	1.28
		EA22	3.19	1.38
EF	10.60	EF1	3.20	1.33
		EF2	3.66	1.40
		EF3	3.74	1.35
OF	6.63	OF1	3.30	1.40
OF	6.63	OF2	3.34	1.45

Hypothesis test results of course types and digital platforms

Course types	Digital platforms												Sig.
	Zoom			Google Meet			Microsoft Teams			Other
	X¯\overline X	n	SD	X¯\overline X	n	SD	X¯\overline X	n	SD	X¯\overline X	n	SD
Theoretical courses	3.81	155	0.84	3.62	13	0.76	3.49	53	1.06	3.09	11	1.04	0.068
Practical courses	3.55	155	1.05	3.15	13	0.98	2.83	53	1.13	2.82	11	1.32	0.000

Multiple comparison test (Tukey HSD)

Dependent variable	I	J	I–J	SE	Sig.
Theoretical courses	Zoom	Google Meet	0.19	0.26	0.874
		Microsoft Teams	0.32	0.14	0.116
		Other	0.72	0.28	0.054
	Google Meet	Zoom	–0.19	0.26	0.874
		Microsoft Teams	0.12	0.28	0.970
		Other	0.52	0.37	0.492
	Microsoft Teams	Zoom	–0.32	0.14	0.116
		Google Meet	–0.12	0.28	0.970
		Other	0.40	0.30	0.543
	Other	Zoom	–0.72	0.28	0.054
		Google Meet	–0.52	0.37	0.492
		Microsoft Teams	–0.40	0.30	0.543
Practical courses	Zoom	Google Meet	0.39	0.31	0.588
		Microsoft Teams	0.71*	0.17	0.000*
		Other	0.73	0.33	0.137
	Google Meet	Zoom	–0.39	0.31	0.588
		Microsoft Teams	0.32	0.33	0.769
		Other	0.33	0.44	0.874
	Microsoft Teams	Zoom	–0.71*	0.17	0.000*
		Google Meet	0.32	0.33	0.769
		Other	0.01	0.35	1.000
	Other	Zoom	–0.73	0.33	0.137
		Google Meet	–0.33	0.44	0.874
		Microsoft Teams	–0.01	0.35	1.000

Results of reliability and normality analysis

Code of factors	Factor	Number of items	Cronbach’s alpha	Skewness	Kurtosis
TT	Technical and technological infrastructure	11	0.930	–0.580	–0.556
HP	Health and psychology	12	0.959	–0.381	–0.916
P	Pedagogy	9	0.908	–0.874	0.162
ISC	Interaction, communication and satisfaction	10	0.926	–0.750	–0.048
EA	Educational adaptation	22	0.958	–0.606	–0.018
EF	Economic factors	3	0.835	–0.787	–0.385
OF	Other factors	2	0.930	–0.398	–1.126

Effect sizes of factors

Code of factor	Factor	Number of items	η²	%
TT	Technical and technological infrastructure	11	0.140	14
HP	Health and psychology	12	0.130	13
P	Pedagogy	9	0.087	8.7
ICS	Interaction, communication and satisfaction	10	0.106	10.6
EA	Educational adaptation	22	0.075	7.5
EF	Economic factors	3	0.057	5.7
OF	Other factors	2	0.077	7.7