IT Manager

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic

charith.nanayakkara@boppoly.ac.nz

A model of user acceptance of learning management systems: a study within tertiary institutions in New Zealand

Paper

Digital technologies are revolutionizing the practices of teaching and learning at colleges and universities all around the world. With the emergence of internet and web technologies, tertiary institutions are increasingly seeking the potential use of e-learning technologies to cater for the ever growing demands of flexible teaching needs in distance education. The teaching institutions are making significant efforts in e-Learning development and investing significantly in associated information technology infrastructure with the expectation of high return of their investment. However, in spite of this effort and investment the teachers and faculty do not always use the technology as expected and more often e-Learning systems continue to be underutilized.

This research investigates the factors that influence or inhibit the adoption of e-Learning systems in the Universities and Institutes of Technologies and Polytechnics in New Zealand. A cross section of teaching staff from different tertiary institutions was surveyed to ascertain their views on adopting learning management systems (LMSs) in their teaching process. The survey questionnaire is based on factors that are being advocated by well known practitioners and academics, which were identified through a literature review.     The study reveals three key factors: individual, system and organisational, affecting the adoption of e-Learning systems in the tertiary institutions. The report introduces a theoretical framework for user acceptance of e-Learning systems and presents a detailed analysis for factors relating to: (a) individual characteristics; (b) individual perceptions; (c) LMS system characteristics; (d) external system characteristics; (e) organisational support and (f) organisational characteristics. The results show that whilst individual factors have significant contribution to the LMS adoption, the system and organisational factors are most crucial for user acceptance in e-Learning systems. The users ranked that release time for staff, the ease of use of LMS, perceived usefulness of LMS, training and support to develop on line content and the reliability of ICT infrastructure are the five most essential factors for staff uptake in e-Learning systems.

Presentation notes (360kb PDF)
Presentation notes (770kb PPT)

Charith presently manages the Information Systems Services at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic. He has more than 15 years experience in providing IS/IT strategic direction and operational leadership for large local and offshore multinational organisations. One of Charith's interests in IS/IT is to investigate diverse challenges in deploying distributed technologies across organisations and to develop and recommend suitable business process improvements for successful system implementation. He presently oversees the development and management of e-learning technology infrastructure and services at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.