Evaluating a learning management system for blended learning in Greek higher education.

Katerina Kabassi,Alexandra Ntouzevits,Tzanetos Pomonis,Yiannis Vozaitis,Giorgos Papastathopoulos,Ioannis Dragonas

doi:10.1186/s40064-016-1705-8

Abstract

This paper focuses on the usage of a learning management system in an educational institution for higher education in Greece. More specifically, the paper examines the literature on the use of different learning management systems for blended learning in higher education in Greek Universities and Technological Educational Institutions and reviews the advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, the paper describes the usage of the Open eClass platform in a Technological Educational Institution, TEI of Ionian Islands, and the effort to improve the educational material by organizing it and adding video-lectures. The platform has been evaluated by the students of the TEI of Ionian Islands based on six dimensions: namely student, teacher, course, technology, system design, and environmental dimension. The results of this evaluation revealed that Open eClass has been successfully used for blended learning in the TEI of Ionian Islands. Despite the instructors’ initial worries about students’ lack of participation in their courses if their educational material was made available online and especially in video lectures; blended learning did not reduce physical presence of the students in the classroom. Instead it was only used as a supplementary tool that helps students to study further, watch missed lectures, etc.

Highlights

With the rapid increase in Internet usage, online instruction is widely adopted in universities and other educational organizations (Huang et al 2012)
In “The case of Technological Educational Institutions (TEIs) of Ionian Islands” and “Evaluation experiment” sections, we describe the case of Ionian Islands and the evaluation experiment conducted with the participation of real users
A review of the different studies, which were associated with the usage of Open eClass in Universities and TEIs in Greece, has been conducted and focuses mainly on the main advantages and disadvantages derived by its usage in all institutions

Summary

Introduction

With the rapid increase in Internet usage, online instruction is widely adopted in universities and other educational organizations (Huang et al 2012). Many online activities have come to influence traditional learning. This new form of learning is called blended learning. The evolving symbiosis of technology with traditional pedagogical approaches, facilitating content richness, flexible content access and alternative communication channels, may benefit the learning process (Nikolaidou et al 2010). Researchers have argued about the advantages of the combination of face to face teaching and online learning and emphasize on the promotion of learner-centered, active and constructive learning (O’Donnell et al 2006; Salomon and Ben-Zvi 2006; Stahl 2006; Giannousi et al 2014). The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and e-Learning tools increases in higher education (Kanuka et al 2002; Rovai 2002; Stodel et al 2006). According to a survey of the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative in 2006 and 2007, 61 % of degree-granting postsecondary institutions run online courses (Parsad et al 2008)

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Conclusion