A technological acceptance of e-learning tools used in practical and laboratory teaching, according to the European higher education area

The application of scientific tools to analyse the use of Internet-based e-learning tools in academic settings is in general an ignored area. E-learning tools are actually an emergent topic as a result of the new ideas introduced by the European Higher Education Area. Lifelong learning, or the promotion of student initiative, is the new paradigm of a learner-centred education. In this context, e-learning tools can represent an effective way of supporting this new trend in education. Assuming the premise that successful use of these web-based tools depends primarily on a user’s behaviour, the objective of this research is to examine the technology acceptance model (TAM) of web-based elearning tools used in practical and laboratory teaching. The research hypotheses derived from this model have empirically been validated using the responses to a survey on e-learning usage among 220 users. These responses have been examined through partial least square. The obtained results strongly support the extended TAM in predicting a student’s intention to use e-learning and define a set of external variables with a significant influence in the original TAM variables. Surprisingly, perceived ease of use did not posit a significant impact on student attitude or intention towards e-learning tool usage. Therefore, early evaluation of e-learning material is considered essential to providing a framework for further improvements of the too

An empirical study into factors that influence e-learning adoption by medical students in UAE

Aim: The global higher education sector has shown an inclination towards the adoption of technology-based learning for introducing innovation in teaching and learning activities. However, this e-learning environment can only be effective if students have positive perceptions of e-learning. Hence, educational personnel is required to consider how students perceive this concept. This research intends to serve this purpose by identifying factors affecting students' acceptance of e-learning as well as their intention toward the use of e-learning for their learning activities.   Methods: The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used in this re-search to formulate a theoretical framework. This research will employ online questionnaires as a data collection tool while the international students enrolled at United Arab Emirates universities will serve as study participants.   Results: The research outcomes indicated the most crucial role played by the predictors of “Accessibility" “Perceived Enjoyment", “Social Influence”, “Perceived Usefulness”, and "Perceived Ease of Use" in shaping students’ intention to resort to e-learning platforms for learning purposes.   Conclusion: The research indicated that the extended TAM model is applicable in the UAE educational context. The research outcomes also showed the possibility for policymakers in the educational sector to make effective use of e-learning platforms both as a technological solution and as an e-learning platform to support distance learning. The research also highlights the practical implications for the concerned educational developers in the educational sector to help them develop and apply a competent e-learning system.   Acknowledgment: This work is a part of a project undertaken at the British University in Dubai   Conflicts of interest: None declared

An empirical study into factors that influence e-learning adoption by medical students in UAE

Aim: The global higher education sector has shown an inclination towards the adoption of technology-based learning for introducing innovation in teaching and learning activities. However, this e-learning environment can only be effective if students have positive perceptions of e-learning. Hence, educational personnel is required to consider how students perceive this concept. This research intends to serve this purpose by identifying factors affecting students' acceptance of e-learning as well as their intention toward the use of e-learning for their learning activities. Methods: The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used in this re-search to formulate a theoretical framework. This research will employ online questionnaires as a data collection tool while the international students enrolled at United Arab Emirates universities will serve as study participants. Results: The research outcomes indicated the most crucial role played by the predictors of “Accessibility" “Perceived Enjoyment", “Social Influence”, “Perceived Usefulness”, and "Perceived Ease of Use" in shaping students’ intention to resort to e-learning platforms for learning purposes. Conclusion: The research indicated that the extended TAM model is applicable in the UAE educational context. The research outcomes also showed the possibility for policymakers in the educational sector to make effective use of e-learning platforms both as a technological solution and as an e-learning platform to support distance learning. The research also highlights the practical implications for the concerned educational developers in the educational sector to help them develop and apply a competent e-learning system. &nbsp

School teachers’ intention to use E-Learning systems in Sri Lanka: a modified tam approach

Rapid expansion of Internet technology has made the human life much easier and efficient and also heavily influence in any business activity; education sector is not an exception to this. Governments of all countries have now started to pay attention to deliver education at more convenient method; one of them is the use of technology called e-learning (electronic learning). Success of such effort by such governments and educational institutions are very much dependent on the acceptance of the system by its direct users. When it comes to the acceptance of technology, maturing stage is seen in developed countries to study the factors influencing such acceptance however a little is known about developing countries, in the case of Sri Lanka little. This study aims to address this gap by delineating the factors influencing teachers’ intention to use e-learning systems in Sri Lankan school. This study deployed Technology Adoption Model (TAM) and did an amendment to fit Sri Lankan context and found that Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use and Facilitating Condition are positively and significantly influencing such intention

Development of an e-learning platform for improving and assessing the student outcomes in electrical engineering

[EN] In the European Higher Education Area, the concept of `education¿ can be defined as a process that facilitates learning. The process will culminate successfully if our students have really learned and not necessarily because we have taught them. Taking into account the educational environment in which we are immersed, the learning process must be turned into a process where the students become aware of their goals and the teacher is transformed into a guide that escorts the students towards the achievement of the objectives. The organization of teaching in this environment involves developing new conceptualizations and methodologies, which can be applied jointly to classical methodologies, acting in a complementary and also synergistic manner. Currently, all academic institutions use virtual campus platforms for educational purposes. At the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), this virtual system can be used as a repository of academic material but also has tools for the development of applications based on e-learning. In the present paper, an e-learning platform has been designed for students of electronic engineering that guide the learners to understand theoretical concepts, integrate theory and practice, and apply knowledge and skills to develop a viable solution to specific problems. The importance of defining and assessing learning outcomes, that is, the competences that students should have acquired and can use, have also been considered. To achieve this goal, a problem-based learning approach has been used so the students learn to identify and interpret data and design strategies to solve problems applying concepts of analysis of electrical circuits. First, the most relevant competences that the students must achieve has been analysed (`Knowledge and use of the principles of theory of circuits and electric machines¿, `Applied knowledge of electrical engineering¿ and `Analysis and resolution of problems¿). Based on them, a battery of tests and tasks has been designed, in order to reinforce the theoretic concepts and analyse and solve problems. The `Test & Quizzes¿ tool of the system has been used to develop the e-learning platform, in which selfevaluation has been also integrated in order to become an effective instrument for learning. The focus has been put on the design of the strategy in relation to the competences that students should acquire, the experience gained during the development of the e-learning platform and the students¿ satisfaction after the implementation.This project is supported by Universitat Politècnica de València through the Project of Innovation and Educational Improvement Program (PIME 2018-2019/B26).Pons Llinares, J.; Bernal-Perez, S.; García-Sánchez, TM.; Bonet-Jara, J.; Sabater I Serra, R. (2019). Development of an e-learning platform for improving and assessing the student outcomes in electrical engineering. IATED. 9169-9176. https://doi.org/10.21125/inted.2019.2276S9169917

Attitudes Towards a Moodle-based E-Learning Platform: A User Segmentation Perspective

The paper objective is to apply Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)-based usage and attitude variables for the predictive user segmentation of Moodle-based e-learning system in a university. The study explores the path models with latent variables estimated by partial least squares method (SmartPLS and plspm library of the R package were used for the parameter estimation) and uses the mixture models (FIMIX and REBUS) for model-based segmentation. Modified technology acceptance model (TAM) was estimated on the sample of 204 students of the Cracow University of Economics. As a result of segmentation analysis, 3 segments of “easiness seekers”, “emotionals” and “loyals” were identified and profiled. Keywords: Moodle, TAM, PLS-PM, clusterin

An empirical study of the driving forces behind online communities

Purpose – A large variety of online communities have emerged during the last years as a result of the challenges faced by both the business and scientific worlds. This trend has also been promoted by the development of internet and new Web 2.0 technologies. In this context, this paper is focused on the determinants of success of online communities. But, as a difference from other studies, these determinants are analyzed from the social network analysis perspective. Several constructs related to the community organization as a social network are proposed and their interrelations are hypothesized in a general research framework. The obtained results test the proposed model providing the most relevant antecedents of the project success. Design/methodology/approach – A case study based on Linux ports to non-conventional processor and environments is used to test the proposed model. Structural equation modeling analysis is used to validate the structural proposed model. Findings – The main antecedents of online communities’ success, quantifying the strength of the relation through the standardized path coefficients. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to a particular set of online communities engaged with the development of the non-conventional Linux ports. However, they constitute a representative set of communities in the field of the open source projects (OSS) development, which are typically developed using a community of support. Originality/value – This paper fulfils the main antecedents causing the successful development of Internet virtual communities. Instead of using sources of data coming from users’ surveys, this study employs community interactions as a source of data. Results have important implications over the development of online communities, like software business models based on virtual communities and open source softwareMinisterio de Educación y Ciencia DPI2007-60128Junta de Andalucía. Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa P07-TIC-0262

Quantifying Factors Affecting Willingness to Communicate in English: Understanding Young Learners at Perhentian Island

Perhentian Island is a renowned islands by the locals and the tourists around the world. The island receives a high number of tourists every year. The high number of tourism activities has influenced the English communication skills among the locals who are using their own local dialect as a medium of communication. Nevertheless, based on the school yearly assessment, the proficiency among the pupils in the one and only school in Perhentian Island did not show any significant effect. It has brought up the question of how much the tourism activities could influence the English proficiency of the pupils. This research investigated the pupils’ willingness to communicate in English as a Second Language by applying the variables extracted from Theory Reason Action (TRA) and the variables from willingness to communicate (WTC). The respondents involved in this research (N=107) were the pupils at the Perhentian Island. The findings showed that the willingness of communication in L2 has influenced the pupils’ attitude and behavior in using English language during the school hours. The results reveal that perceived attitude is the main factor that influenced pupils’ readiness in Perhentian Island to communicate in English as a second language. The implications of the results and future research directions are also discussed

An Investigation Of Factors Impacting The Use Of Technology In A Home School Environment

Home school populations have been studied for socialization and academic preparedness, but there are few studies on the use of technology among home schooled families.  One researcher, in studying technology use among home school families in the greater Albany, New York area, found that the use of technology had a positive influence on the decision to home school and to allow home school families to create and maintain groups of like-minded home schoolers in their quest to educate their children. The objectives of this study are to understand what technologies are being used by home school families and about perception of technology in four areas of technology usage: 1) to build social networks, 2) acquire and share knowledge, 3) administrative actions and 4) instructional activities.  This research shows that when technology is perceived as easier to use, it will lead to perceived usefulness, at a higher significance than leading to actual use.  Further, it was surprising that the models did not show perceived usefulness leading to actual use, which is indicated in the literature

Acceptance of E-learning among university students in UAE: A practical study

The objective of the study is to find out the factors which affect the acceptance of E-learning among students and how the students’ purpose of using E-learning is determined by these factors. The research was based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The researcher developed a questionnaire to gather data from a sample of 366 university students who actively used the E-learning system. According to the results of the study, subjective norms, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, enjoyment, and accessibility” are the vital predictors behind the intention of students for using E-learning systems. This indicates that extended TAM is applicable in the UAE. The results show that policymakers and education developers should take E-learning system seriously since it can be opted not just as a technological solution but also as a learning platform for students belonging to a distant area. The results present practical implications for education developers, policymakers and practitioners in devising useful plans to implement E-learning systems