Toward Improving Students' Academic Engagement: The Role of Educational Technology

Abstract

The current advancement and universal application of information, communication, and technologies have provided many advantages to the education sectors to advance academic and administrative engagements. Accordingly, higher-education institutions have deployed Learning Management Systems (LMS) applications to support their learning environment. This study explored the extent to which SAKAI LMS is deployed to advance students’ academic engagement. The DeLone and McLean model of information system was used to evaluate the SAKAI LMS effect on academic engagement. The study identified four dependent variables, two mediated variables to measure the implication of Student Engagement with SAKAI usage. A sample of 828 undergraduate students from two different campuses from the University of Ghana Business School was used. The results revealed that information quality, service quality, and system quality significantly affect LMS usage for academic activities. The study further reveals that system usage and user satisfaction of SAKAI LMS shows a significant relationship toward academic engagements. Target Audience This chapter seeks to provide insights for higher-educational institutions in developing economy on the need to advance technology application to improve academic engagement. Although developed countries are far advanced in this direction, higher-educational institutions in developing economies still lag in educational technology applications. Evidence from this study would enable the government, the ministry of education, policymakers in higher education, and students to engage more on deliberate strategies for deploying educational technologies for academic engagement.