Adoption Of Learning Management Systems Research Articles

Learning Management System: An Innovation in Teaching Learning Process at University Level

The Learning Management System (LMS) has attained great significance in the innovative teaching-learning process at the university level during pandemics. The 21st century saw innovation in technology use and incorporation of LMS in the teaching-learning process. The major objective of the present study was to determine the teacher-learner perception towards the adaptation of the Learning Management System and to examine the adoption baseline for LMS by incorporating critical external factors in the technology acceptance model. A mixed-method research approach was used. Data was collected from 400 learners and 20 teachers. It was found that teacher’s perception of LMS is affected by a number of factors related to social influence, perceived ease of use and usefulness. In addition, factors such as actual use of the system and content qualities are also important to whether teachers embrace a system or not. The study provides some useful insights on LMS adoption and highlights how innovative tools can transform the conventional learning landscape.

Exploring the Adoption and Usage of Learning Management System as Alternative for Curriculum Delivery in South African Higher Education Institutions during Covid-19 Lockdown

This study adopted a discursive approach to review the use of the Learning Management System (LMS) popularly known as 'Moodle’ in most South African universities. Moodle as fondly called is one of the online tools that can be effectively used to deliver learning activities as well as online learning assessments to implement curriculum delivery without borders or disruptions during the COVID-19 lockdown across the globe. The author highlights various extant studies on the usage and adoption of LMS into teaching and learning for effective implementation in higher institutions of learning. LMS is a global online tool that has been in use for decades in various higher institutions of learning across the developed countries. It has proved to be an efficient learning platform that has impacted significantly the education sector in these developed countries, as learning experiences are provided to diverse students at their comfort zones. With the break of the COVID-19 pandemic that affects the global world, teaching and learning in most parts of the developed countries continue to be facilitated through various online approaches that include LMS in the developed countries. Unfortunately, the pandemic lockdown in many developing countries like South Africa grossly impacted the delivery of curriculum and educational activities in various learning institutions for several months. The continuous presence of COVID-19 led the South African Department of Higher Education and Training to review approaches to curriculum delivery to salvage academic activities. Thus, declared online learning as an alternative to face-to-face curriculum delivery in higher institutions. The adoption of LMS results as the best approach to engage students in full teaching and learning activities.

Determinants of Learning Management System Adoption in an Era of COVID-19: Evidence from a Ghanaian University

The integration of technology in higher education has reached a new dimension following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Institutions of higher learning such as the University of Education, Winneba have been compelled to expand its technological infrastructure for pedagogical purposes. It however appears that there is a dearth of knowledge regarding the students’ adoption of the University of Education, Winneba’s (UEW) Learning Management Systems (LMS) in an era of COVID-19. This study, therefore, assessed the determinants of e-learning adoption in an era of COVID-19 from the perspective of students in UEW. The explanatory sequential design was employed. The study randomly sampled 3272 students for quantitative data whilst 20 students were purposively sampled for the qualitative data. The quantitative data were analysed through Means and Standard Deviations as well as Stepwise Regression. The qualitative data were content analysed. The study found that the level of adoption of the LMS among UEW students was moderate. The study further established that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude towards the LMS were significant predictors of students' adoption of the LMS. Nonetheless, age, faculty and level of ICT skills mediated the level of adoption of LMS. The study recommends that the Management of UEW LMS continue to conduct pragmatic and purposeful seminars and workshops to educate students about the adoption and benefits they stand to gain in using the LMS for their academic activities. Again, management needs to consider the age, faculty and level of ICT skills of the students in the implementation of subsequent online platforms for students.

External factors affecting blackboard learning management system adoption by students: Evidence from a historically disadvantaged higher education institution in South Africa

Learning Management Systems (LMS) have the ability to transform learning experiences of students in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). In addition to the developmental benefits, LMS assist teaching and learning during student unrests, a common feature in historically disadvantaged institutions in South Africa. Regardless of the benefits of LMS platforms such as Blackboard, the utilisation by university students at the institution under study has been very low. Applying cross sectional electronic survey, this study identifies the key factors influencing technology adoption, as identified in the General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for E-Learning (GETAMEL), behind perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness in the adoption of technology. A sample of 125 students at a historically disadvantaged institution in South Africa was considered for the study. Data was collected to understand their perceptions on use of Blackboard Learning Management System (BB) for learning. Data was analysed with SmartPLS statistical analysis software. Results show that perceived ease of use of BB is influenced by computer self-efficacy, computer amusement and computer anxiety whilst perceived usefulness of BB is influenced by subjective norm and computer enjoyment. The findings also show computer experience to significantly affect computer self-efficacy and computer self-efficacy to affect computer enjoyment. The article presents the external factors that affect the usage of LMS at one of the historically disadvantaged HEI in South Africa. HEI leadership has to prioritise the identified external factors to increase chances of acceptance and utilisation of Blackboard by learners.

Learning management systems and technology acceptance models: A systematic review

Technology acceptance has become one of the dominant research trends in the domain of learning management systems (LMSs). While a plethora of several research studies conducted in this area, there is still a scarcity of knowledge concerning a holistic review and taxonomy of studies in this field. Thus, the main objective of this systematic review is steered toward understanding the most prevalent theoretical models and the most prominent external factors affecting the LMS adoption in higher educational institutions. Out of 732 collected studies between 2005 and 2020, a total of 68 studies were critically reviewed and analyzed. The main results indicated that the TAM, DeLone and McLean IS success model, UTAUT, TRA, DOI, and UTAUT2 have been dominating the theoretical landscape in LMS research. The results also elucidated that external factors linked to LMS acceptance models fall primarily into three macro-categories, including individual variables, contextual variables, and psychological/behavioral constructs driven from other theories. It is believed that the results of this review can serve as a departure point for synthesizing more advanced hybrid adoption theoretical models on the one hand, and a standardized inventory of factors affecting the LMS adoption on the other hand. Several theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future research paths were discussed.

Antecedents of Blackboard Adoption by Lecturers at a South African Higher Education Institution – Extending GETAMEL

Learning Management Systems (LMS) have become central to the teaching and learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). The aim of this paper was to test the constructs of the General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for e-Learning (GETAMEL) and some selected constructs from the other Technology Acceptance Models (TAM) on adoption and use of Black-board LMS by lecturers at a selected university in South Africa. A cross sec-tional electronic survey was carried out to obtain data from 101 lecturers, who were conveniently sampled to express their perceptions on BLMS. Structural equation modelling, utilising SmartPLS3, was used to analyse the collected data. The results confirmed that behavioural intention (BI) influ-enced actual use whilst BI in turn was influenced by perceived usefulness (PU) and subjective norm (SN). Attitude was influenced by PU but had no significant effect on BI. The external factors that influenced perceived ease of use (PEOU) included perceived enjoyment (ENJOY), system self-efficacy (SE), and system anxiety (ANX) whilst PU was influenced by job relevance (JR) and PEOU. University management at the HEI under study should con-sider the determinants of SE, ENJOY and ANX if they need effective utilisation of Blackboard by the lecturers. The study findings imply that a LMS that is adopted and used is one that is considered useful, otherwise users will be reluctant to use it. The findings can assist HEIs in preparing their lecturers before implementation of any e-learning systems, such as training and technical support, thus, enhancing LMS adoption and utilisation. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on antecedents of LMS adoption and use. In addition, it establishes the applicability of GETAMEL in a South African university context.

Arab Online Courses and the Disabled: An Automated and User-Testing Approach

There is a significant increase in the adoption of Learning Management Systems (LMSs) by higher education institutions worldwide and Saudi universities in particular. These pedagogical tools empower teaching and learning by providing access to online learning materials. However, all university students, including students with disabilities, encounter countless instances of inaccessibility that negatively impact their learning experience. In order to offer equal access to all students, it is of paramount importance to enhance the accessibility of LMSs and remove such barriers. The purpose of this case study is to evaluate an online course in the LMS Blackboard (Bb) using an automated and end-user evaluation approach. First, automated testing was carried out by Ally software. Second, end-user testing was conducted using a think-aloud protocol to understand the actual learning experiences. Data from the think-aloud protocol was examined to extract accessibility issues. The findings from the automated testing indicate that the online course is highly accessible in terms of the course materials. However, students were challenged by several accessibility obstacles that surfaced during the think-aloud Bb tasks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that incorporates Bb Ally as an automated checker to test an online course for disabled Saudi students. KEYWORDS Think-aloud protocol, Ally software, Blackboard, Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.1), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Blind and visually impaired (BVI) students

Learning Management System Adoption

The growing popularity of online learning has put learning management systems (LMS) at the forefront of learning technologies. The adoption of LMS by students has therefore been a major driving force for online education. However, true adoption must transcend initial use for significant success. This study utilizes the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to gain new insights on students' short-term versus long-term adoption of LMS. Specifically, it examines the determinants of initial use and continuance use through the lens of the TPB. Results obtained from a sample of 248 undergraduate students suggest that difference in continuing use and initial use decision depends on differences in the influences of personal control perceptions about technology and subjective norms. Protagonists of online education will find these results interesting in that it provides insights for developing intervention strategies that can help in increasing online education adoption regardless of whether the focus is long-term or short-term.

Diffusion of Innovation: Adoption of Learning Management System Technology in Emerging Market Economies

The market for the next-generation learning management system (LMS) for higher education is poised to grow by the US $3.04 billion during 2020-2024 (MarketWatch, 2020), creating technological opportunities in the higher education learning landscape particularly due to growth in remote learning due to COVID-19 pandemic. This rapid growth necessitates an urgent need to integrate technology with the instructional design in academic programs at the Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) globally. The existing literature on the LMS suggests a considerable resistance among the instructor group towards technology adoption in pedagogic strategy. LMS has been in existence for almost two decades, however, they have not been leveraged to their full potential. An understanding of the nature of technology adoption among instructor group is even more pronounced for the HEIs of emerging market economies (EMEs). An efficient and technology-inspired educational construct will boost the overall competitiveness of the EME's in their respective population skill development and attracting foreign investments for industrial growth. Moreover, given the lessons learned from the epidemiological uncertainties, such as most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, educators should be prepared to utilize LMS to their full potential. The purpose of this study is to investigate the barriers and motivators in LMS adoption among emerging market economy HEIs and to propose a technology adoption model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (V. Venkatesh et. al., 2012). The results of this study suggest implementing a dynamic feedback mechanism of technology adoption by instructors, and the need for HEIs to articulate strategic plan goals that focus on faculty professional development in the use of technology to build confidence among instructor group to enable the adoption of technology for instruction.

A Qualitative Analysis On the Benefits and Limitations of Learning Management Systems (LMS) in Saudi High School Education

ABSTRACT The past decade has been characterized by a strong global trend towards the adoption of Learning Management Systems (LMS) in the educational environment. Saudi Arabia has recently invested in the digitization of education. Taking the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a starting point, this study sought to understand the knowledge and early experiences of Saudi high school teachers with a particular LMS, called Future Gate. Qualitative in-depth interviews with 20 Saudi high school teachers were thematically analyzed. Findings suggest that high school teachers are well-informed about Future Gate and its purpose and have mostly positive perceptions of this LMS. Yet, some limitations exist, including unfamiliarity, lack of infrastructure, technical issues, and quality-related concerns. The findings are valuable because they can inform both educational leaders and software developers on how to improve and facilitate the use of LMS.

Investigating university students’ attitude and intention to use a learning management system from a self-determination perspective

ABSTRACT The goal of this study was to investigate the determinants affecting university students’ attitude and intention towards using a learning management system from the perspective of self-determination theory, and to examine the moderating effect of gender and usage experience and the relationships between these determinants. Two hundred forty-one Chinese university students’ responses addressing their perceptions of using Blackboard for autonomous learning were gathered through a convenient sampling technique and were analysed by PLS-SEM. We found that autonomy, relatedness, competence, and satisfaction had a positive and significant impact on students’ intention towards using Blackboard; furthermore, the construct of autonomy was the strongest determinant for the use of Blackboard. However, students who used Blackboard were not found to be moderated by gender and usage experience. This study provides important implications for educators and institutions and contributes to our understanding of university students’ adoption of learning management systems.

Learning Management System Adoption in Higher Education Using the Extended Technology Acceptance Model

Learning Management System Adoption in Higher Education Using the Extended Technology Acceptance Model

Investigating the impact of space design, visual attractiveness and perceived instructor presence on student adoption of learning management systems

Education industry has available a range of educational technologies to support student learning. A Learning Management System (LMS) is one of the most important educational technologies used in the tertiary sector, providing an online platform for teaching, as well as supporting student learning. Despite all the effort put through deployment of most LMSs, in many universities, a below expectation student engagement and acceptance of the LMS is normally reported. To address this issue, this paper develops a conceptual model and investigates the impact of space design, visual attractiveness and perceived instructor presence on student acceptance of LMS. The results generally confirmed the positive impact of space design, visual attractiveness and perceived instructor presence on student acceptance of LMS. The only hypothesis which was not confirmed by the data of this study was the impact of perceived instructor’s presence on the LMS perceived usefulness.

The moderating effect of gender and age on the students’ acceptance of learning management systems in Saudi higher education

Despite the widespread adoption of learning management systems (LMS) by universities worldwide, it has been found that the students’ use of them is not always optimal. Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), this quantitative research aims to examine the factors that impact the students’ utilisation of LMS in higher-educational institutions in Saudi Arabia. Further, this study investigates the moderating effect of gender and age on the students’ behaviour toward LMS. A total of 851 online surveys were submitted by students registered in three Saudi universities, and 833 responses were used for data analysis. The collected data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) along with multigroup analysis (MGA). The results revealed that gender moderates the relationship between content quality and perceived ease of use. However, the findings also confirmed that age has no moderating influence on the students’ use of LMS. The results obtained and implications of the study are discussed.

Determinants of learning management systems adoption in Nigeria: A hybrid SEM and artificial neural network approach

Research has shown that technology, when used prudently, has the potential to improve instruction and learning both in and out of the classroom. Only a handful of African tertiary institutions have fully deployed learning management systems (LMS) and the literature is devoid of research examining the factors that foster the adoption of LMS. To fill this void, the present research investigates the factors contributing to students’ acceptance of LMS. Survey data were obtained from registered students in four Nigerian universities (n = 1116); the responses were analyzed using artificial neural network (ANN) and structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. The results show that social influence, facilitating conditions, system quality, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness are important predictors for students’ behavioral intention to use LMS. Students’ behavioral intention to use LMS also functions as a predictor for actual usage of LMS. Implications for practice and theory are discussed.

Assessing the Adoption of Learning Management Systems in Higher Education

Objective - At present, higher educational institutions are heavily reliant on Learning Management Systems (LMS) to effectively manage communication with students and to enable technology-based learning. However, the success of LMS depends mostly on the adoption of LMS by students and teachers. The aim of this study is to incorporate different important factors of the Technology Acceptance Model to compare the behavioural intention of students and teachers to adopt LMS. Methodology/Technique – Structured instruments are used for a sample of academics and undergraduates as the main contributors of LMS. The attitude towards LMS adoption of academics and students was compared. Finding - The results suggest that the attitudes of teachers and students towards LMS adoption significantly differ as both contributors and users of LMS. Novelty - In addition, the research highlights different aspects of LMS that can be manipulated for the successful adoption of LMS Type of Paper: Empirical. Keywords: LMS Adoption; Technology Acceptance Model (TAM); University Community; Attitude Reference Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Lasanthika, W.J.A.J.M; Tennakoon, W.D.N.S.M. 2019. Assessing the Adoption of Learning Management Systems in Higher Education, Global J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Review 7(3): 204 – 208. https://doi.org/10.35609/gjbssr.2019.7.3(5) JEL Classification: A20, A23, A29.

Professional identity and the adoption of learning management systems

ABSTRACT Universities implement Learning Management Systems (LMSs) with the aspiration of improving educational practice. However, LMS adoption by academics within universities vary and frequently falls short of institutional aspirations. In this study, we propose an integrated and adopter–centred professional identity perspective of LMS adoption and empirically validate such a perspective at a New Zealand university where a LMS was implemented. We surveyed 204 academic staff and analysed questionnaire data using structural equation modelling. Results indicate that the adoption of the LMS was associated with professional identity. Variations in aspects of professional identity not only shaped the extent of LMS usage, but was also predictive of qualitatively different ways of using the LMS for teaching. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed based on the research findings.

Learning analytics techniques and visualisation with textual data for determining causes of academic failure

ABSTRACT The primary goal of higher education institutions is to support all students in the pursuit of academic success, which requires timely assistance for ‘at risk’ students. The adoption of learning management systems results in a large amount of data that can be collected, processed and utilised to improve the students’ learning experiences. This research examines the potential applications of analytics techniques for extracting insights from student-generated content in an academic setting. It showcases how different text analytics techniques, from descriptive content analysis, semantic network analysis, to topic modelling support the discovery of new insights from unstructured, user-generated data. We looked at 968 letters written by ‘at risk’ students in an Australian-based university in Southeast Asia to examine the difficulties the students faced, which led to their academic failure. The results show that time management, family, learning, assessment, and subjects were the leading causes of poor performance, but in a more nuanced way than was expected. Students often faced multiple challenges, one led to another, which resulted in the failing grades. Our study contributes a set of effective text analytics techniques for extracting insights from student data, providing the preliminary guidelines for an information system to detect early at risk students.

Remote interpreter API model for supporting computer programming adaptive learning

Despite the adoption of Learning Management Systems (LMS) has been continuously growing in the last decade few, if any, scholars addressed the lack of the interactivity in online learning systems. The requirement for an interactive learning model has been increasingly prominent as content providers realize the importance of personalization of content suits to learners’ learning progress. This paper demonstrates the adoption of adaptive learning into existing LMS engine to overcome the limitation of either systems plugins or server specification pertinent to students’ psychomotor abilities in computer programming learning. In this regard, the psychomotor is understood as the ability of students to write the program code as correctly as expected. In this study, a web API model that works to run an interpreter based-program code remotely was developed. The web API model can be utilized by LMS so it becomes the solution to the problem. The structure of the web API model has been adapted to the needs of the learning assessment. The implementation of the developed API web model is done in Python and PHP programming languages. The performance test was done by submitting 10 to 100 program codes simultaneously indicated no significant difference to the required resources (CPU usage and memory usage) to run the program code. Furthermore, for response time, the average time needed to run Python and PHP program code is also no significant difference. The average of CPU usage required by the web API to run a Python program code is 0.2058% with 0.5973 seconds as a response time. Meanwhile, to run the PHP program code, the average CPU usage required is 0.8074% with 0.3110 seconds response time. It can be concluded that the web API performance does not overburden the server.

Blended learning or face-to-face? Does Tutor anxiety prevent the adoption of Learning Management Systems for distance education in Ghana?

ABSTRACT Learning Management System (LMS)-enabled blended learning has been adopted by higher educational institutions for promoting accessible and effective pedagogy and andragogical practices. The introduction of this mode of learning has altered the traditional face-to-face interaction. However, the lack of actual usage and online presence by instructors in an LMS-enabled blended learning environment seems to be a major setback for its success. Consequently, LMS-related anxiety has been cited as one of the behavioural challenges hindering its usage in Africa. Hence, this paper is focused on unravelling the antecedents of tutors’ anxiety towards actual LMS usage based on a Technology Related Stimulus-Response Theoretical Framework (TR-SR-TF). In view of this, the study employed a survey design, adopting a questionnaire as data collection instrument from 267 distance education tutors across study centres within Ghana. The results from Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique revealed three underlying factors determining LMS anxiety, namely; colleague influence, outcome expectation and use support. However, the result of the Importance Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) showed that colleague influence was the most important indicator while outcome expectation was the highest performance indicator of tutors’ LMS related anxiety. The study recommended that such factors like colleague influence, outcome expectation and use support should be consciously addressed in order to reduce (if not totally eliminate) anxiety towards LMS use for blended learning.