An Inspection of Learning Management Systems on Persuasiveness of Interfaces and Persuasive Design: A Case in a Higher Learning Institution

Abstract

An effective Learning Management System (LMS) is an essential factor that can increase e-learning persuasiveness. One of the components that need to be addressed to design an effective LMS is design interfaces. Instead of developing a new LMS that requires a high cost, evaluating and improving the existing LMS is the best option. Issues like low completion rates and procrastination are common issues related to e-learning usage. These issues can be solved if academic institutions provide a proper LMS for students to change their learning behaviors positively. Many previous studies claimed they managed to implement persuasive technology into e-learning platforms to encourage positive learning behaviors. However, the claims can be questionable if the persuasive e-learning systems are not gone through a proper evaluation phase. This study will use the heuristic evaluation method to assess the persuasiveness level of LMS interfaces. The persuasive Systems Design Model (PSD), on the other hand, is used to evaluate persuasive strategies in LMS. The assessment involves students’ perspectives as the primary users to identify potentially behavior change factors, especially on engagement. Thus, the objectives of this study are i) to investigate the persuasiveness of LMS interfaces and ii) to identify persuasive strategies in the LMS design. Apart from that, this study also produces a) recommendations on design examples to increase the persuasiveness of LMS interfaces and b) the mapping of LMS interfaces to PSD framework that can be utilized by higher learning institutions.