Abstract
During the past two decades, open source learning platforms (OSLPs) have become a dominant part of modern education. OSLPs are free for usage and customization—unlike proprietary software restricted by copyright licenses. By utilizing OSLPs, users can download and use the source code, write new features, fix bugs, improve performances, or learn from others how specific problems can be solved. Albeit dominant, the frequency of usage and motivation of OSLPs by students is not high; however, there has been very little research about this, and the problem is significant. Therefore, this research aimed to derive the factors that affect the adoption and diffusion of OSLPs. The factors on the diffusion and adoption were defined based on the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM), where the integrated theoretical framework is called the IDT-TAM. Partial Least Square structural equation modeling was used to confirm the hypothesized IDT-TAM. An empirical study was based on the sample data collected from 340 Taiwanese technical university students to demonstrate the feasibility of the analytical framework and derive the factors related to the adoption and diffusion of the OSLP for students. Based on the results of the empirical study, through the mediation of perceived attitude (PA) and perceived usefulness (PU), trialability (TL), observability (OS), ease of use (EU), and relative advantage (RA) are the factors most related to the diffusion and acceptance of the OSLP innovations. The analytical results can serve as the basis for the design, development, and enhancement of acceptance and diffusion of OSLP.
Highlights
In the last few decades, the universal access to high-quality education has increased peace, sustainable social and economic development, and intercultural dialogue [1]
The participants’ intention to use (ICU) the open source learning platforms (OSLPs) can be improved by enhancing Relative advantage (RA) and TL through the mediation of perceived attitude (PA)
The participants’ intention to use (ICU) the OSLP can be improved by enhancing ease of use (EU), TL, and OS through the mediation of both the Perceived usefulness (PU) and the PA
Summary
In the last few decades, the universal access to high-quality education has increased peace, sustainable social and economic development, and intercultural dialogue [1]. One of the most famous OSLPs, Moodle [5], allows institutions to use the platform as their LMS to provide fully online courses with a large population of registered users. Many activity modules, such as assignment, exam, asynchronous assignment and synchronous quiz, advanced grading, and user and overview reports, have been used to enrich the learning communities around their subject. Very few studies have discussed the status of students’ acceptance of OSLPs or the diffusion and usage of these learning platforms, especially in the related field of education. The current research aims to investigate related factors that affect the diffusion of innovation, which supports the need for constant change and renewal [8] in LMS
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