Abstract
That course management systems (CMS) such as Blackboard and Moodle are relevant to higher education is beyond question. Tertiary institutions invest significant resources in developing CMS and promoting their use by faculty members. Considerable research has been undertaken with respect to cost-effectiveness, to the ‘buy as opposed to build’ quandary and also to CMS product rating. Far fewer studies have been devoted to examining how course management systems are being used in higher education, whether such use is effective and what views the faculty members who use/do not use the technology have about such systems. The American University of Sharjah (AUS) has, since 2004, made a strong commitment to CMS through investment in iLearn (the AUS version of Blackboard) as a teaching and learning medium. This paper reports on initial findings from an investigation, conducted by a cross-disciplinary, cross-generational research team of faculty, staff and students. The study seeks to gain a clear appreciation of how iLearn is being used at AUS and to recognize the faculty members’ opinions and perceptions of the CMS iLearn.
Highlights
That course management systems (CMS) such as Blackboard and Moodle are relevant to higher education is beyond question
The studies of Hamuy and Galaz (2010), Blin and Munro (2008) and Selwyn (2007) all revealed that faculty use patterns favoring the administrative management aspects of technologies as opposed to the more pedagogically interactive possibilities which exist both in both CMS in particular as well as in modern computer technology generally
Morgan’s (2003) study found that faculty favored the capacity of a CMS to take on organizational tasks in preference to engagement with aspects of the system that might be integrated into their teaching methodology, such as the use of blogs and discussion boards, for instance
Summary
That course management systems (CMS) such as Blackboard and Moodle are relevant to higher education is beyond question. Tertiary institutions invest significant resources in developing CMS and promoting their use by faculty members. Considerable research has been undertaken with respect to cost-effectiveness, to the ‘buy as opposed to build’ quandary and to CMS product rating. Far fewer studies have been devoted to examining how course management systems are being used in higher education, whether such use is effective and what views the faculty members who use/do not use the technology have about such systems. The study seeks to gain a clear appreciation of how iLearn is being used at AUS and to recognize the faculty members’ opinions and perceptions of the CMS iLearn
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