Patterns in Faculty Learning Management System Use

Abstract

Technology in Higher Education affects teaching and learning excellence while being a significant expense for universities. There is a need for evaluation of current instructional technology use when planning for renewal or adoption of a new learning management system (LMS). This study was conducted to understand the patterns of course tools used by faculty in a commercial LMS used at a large public research university. Course data was extracted from 2562 courses with 98,381 student enrollments during the Fall of 2016. A latent class analysis was conducted to identify the patterns of LMS tool use based on the presence of grade center columns, announcements, assignments, discussion boards, and assessments within each course. Three latent classes of courses were identified and characterized as Holistic tool use (28% of the courses), Complementary tool use (51%), and Content repository (21%). These classes differed in the mean number of students per course and whether courses were exclusively online. These descriptions provided data-based information to share with deans across the university to facilitate discussion of faculty needs for LMS tools and training.