Online learning has been steadily growing and become an essential part of the higher educational systems in Saudi Arabia (Al-Shehri, 2010). The main purpose of this study is to explore students' perspectives about the quality elements required for online courses developed by Saudi Electronic University (SEU)--the first university in Saudi Arabia to specialize in online learning. The study also investigated whether students' genders or ages significantly affected their views of what the quality elements that improve online courses should be. The study utilized a mixed methods approach, including both quantitative and qualitative methods, to achieve the study's objectives. The study's target population was the entirety of the students enrolled in SEU online courses. The study's sample, selected randomly, consisted of 373 participants. Because the researcher expected 50% of the sample to respond, the number of people selected in the original sample was 747. The researcher received 564 responses. The study utilized a questionnaire called The Online Learning Quality Inventory (OLQI) developed by Hathaway (2009) and adapted it for the unique circumstances of SEU students. Additionally, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of seven participants. Regarding the first research question investigating the course elements that SEU students identify as indicators of online course quality, descriptive statistics used to analyze the quantitative data revealed that the participants found that most of the quality elements identified in the OLQI are important. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed 11 themes. Both the quantitative and qualitative results showed that interaction with instructors using different communication method, meaningful interactions among students, stating course objectives, using timelines and summaries, connecting course content to real world applications, providing resources, well-organized interface, and working with other students collaboratively are very important factors. Regarding the second and the third research questions investigating if student gender or age significantly affects their perspectives about quality elements of online course, the quantitative outcomes disclosed that there are no statistically significant differences between students' perspectives due to their age or gender. Furthermore, while the qualitative results similarly suggested that there are no significant differences among perspectives of study participants due to their age, students' gender did affect how they viewed social media and shyness seemed to affect some female students' willingness to actively participate in virtual lectures. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]