Efficacy of Open-Source Learning Management Systems in Developing the Teaching Skills of English Language Student Teachers

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the efficacy of open-source management systems in the development of the main teaching skills of student teachers at the department of English language at Najran University. An Open-Source Learning Management based educational website in addition to performance based observation card were developed for the sake of accomplishing the study's aim. Each one involved four main fields, i.e. lesson planning, lesson implementation, learners' achievement assessment, and classroom management. The experimental approach was used and the experiment was carried out on (56) participants. All of them were at their eighth level (last term at university) and were doing their field experience at schools. They were randomly assigned into control and experimental groups with (28) students in each. Participants in the control group were taught by the traditional way of teaching whereas their peers in the experimental group were taught via Open-Source Learning Management Systems. Findings revealed significant differences between the teaching performance of student teachers in both groups regarding their skills in lesson planning; lesson implementation; and students' achievement evaluation in favor of the experimental group. Nevertheless, there was no significant difference between the teaching performance of student teachers in both groups with regard to classroom management.