Exploring Students’ Acceptance of E-Learning Through the Development of a Comprehensive Technology Acceptance Model

Said A Salloum,Mostafa Al-Emran,Khaled Shaalan,Azza Abdel Monem,Ahmad Qasim Mohammad Alhamad

doi:10.1109/access.2019.2939467

Abstract

Extending the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for studying the e-learning acceptance is not a new research topic, and it has been tackled by many scholars. However, the development of a comprehensive TAM that could be able to examine the e-learning acceptance under any circumstances is regarded to be an essential research direction. To identify the most widely used external factors of the TAM concerning the e-learning acceptance, a literature review comprising of 120 significant published studies from the last twelve years was conducted. The review analysis indicated that computer self-efficacy, subjective/social norm, perceived enjoyment, system quality, information quality, content quality, accessibility, and computer playfulness were the most common external factors of TAM. Accordingly, the TAM has been extended by the aforementioned factors to examine the students' acceptance of e-learning in five different universities in the United Arab of Emirates (UAE). A total of 435 students participated in the study. The results indicated that system quality, computer self-efficacy, and computer playfulness have a significant impact on perceived ease of use of e-learning system. Furthermore, information quality, perceived enjoyment, and accessibility were found to have a positive influence on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of e-learning system.

Highlights

Electronic learning (E-learning) is fast becoming an essential tool that is widely used and implemented by educational institutes and universities across the globe [1], [2]
The percentage of female students was 54% while only 46% was males. 55% of the students’ age range between 18 and 29 while this percentage is very close to those who were above 29 (45%). 36% of the students majored in IT while students in business management, engineering, science, law, education, and humanities were 27%, 9%, 3%, 3%, 16%, and 0.5%, respectively. 38% of the students were studying a bachelor’s degree, 35% were studying a master’s degree, and 16% as doctoral students, while the rest were categorized under the diploma and advanced diploma
A new model has been developed through the extension of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with the most frequent factors resulted in this study

Summary

Introduction

Electronic learning (E-learning) is fast becoming an essential tool that is widely used and implemented by educational institutes and universities across the globe [1], [2]. The e-learning system in developing countries has partially or entirely been unsuccessfully adopted; its utilization has. Not been completed and is considered to be less than the satisfactory level [6] This refers to the lack of understanding the factors affecting its adoption [7]. Most of the prior studies have focused on examining the impact of particular factors on e-learning adoption. Those factors are usually varied from one study to the other depending on the individuals and context. It is believed that there is a need for a comprehensive theoretical model that can fully understand the factors affecting the e-learning adoption under any circumstances regardless of the context and individuals

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Conclusion