The Effectiveness of Online Platforms after the Pandemic: Will Face-to-Face Classes Affect Students’ Perception of Their Behavioural Intention (BIU) to Use Online Platforms?

Rana Saeed Al-Maroof,Ahmad Aburayya,Khadija Alhumaid,Raghad Alfaisal,Noha Alnazzawi,Nafla Mahdi Alahbabi,Said Salloum,Maryam Alnnaimi,Kevin Ayoubi,Sarah Thabit,Iman A Akour

doi:10.3390/informatics8040083

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ intention to continue using online learning platforms during face-to-face traditional classes in a way that is parallel to their usage during online virtual classes (during the pandemic). This investigation of students’ intention is based on a conceptual model that uses newly used external factors in addition to the technology acceptance model (TAM) contrasts; hence, it takes into consideration users’ satisfaction, the external factor of information richness (IR) and the quality of the educational system and information disseminated. The participants were 768 university students who have experienced the teaching environments of both traditional face-to-face classes and online classes during the pandemic. A structural equation modelling (SEM) test was conducted to analyse the independent variables, including the users’ situation awareness (SA), perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, satisfaction, IR, education system quality and information quality. An online questionnaire was used to explore students’ perceptions of their intention to use online platforms accessibly in a face-to-face learning environment. The results showed that (a) students prefer online platforms that have a higher level of content richness, to be able to implement the three dimensions of users’ situation awareness (perception, comprehension and projection); (b) there were significant effects of TAM constructs on students’ satisfaction and acceptance; (c) students are in favour of using a learning platform that is characterised by a high level of educational system quality and information quality and (d) students with a higher level of satisfaction have a more positive attitude in their willingness to use the online learning system.

Highlights

In recent years, there has been a tremendous focus on increasing the acceptance of online learning platforms, as these are used as media to create a new educational environment that has features, tools [1,2,3] and an atmosphere that is rather different from that of traditional classrooms [4,5]
technology acceptance model (TAM) constructs can positively affect the acceptance of technology; they are affected by other factors such as personality differences, technical support, technology training and equipment accessibility
TAM constructs may have varied effects on users’ satisfaction in their acceptance of online learning systems; gender and diversity have an impact on TAM constructs

Summary

Introduction

There has been a tremendous focus on increasing the acceptance of online learning platforms, as these are used as media to create a new educational environment that has features, tools [1,2,3] and an atmosphere that is rather different from that of traditional classrooms [4,5]. This investigation aimed at exploring the impact of certain factors on teachers’ and students’ perceptions of these online learning platforms [6,7,8,9]. This invites a question on the effectiveness of online learning platforms in the future

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Conclusion