Faculty Perceptions and Utilization of a Learning Management System in Higher Education

Change, Chinhong Lim (2008) Faculty Perceptions and Utilization of a Learning Management System in Higher Education. PhD thesis, Ohio University.

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Abstract

Past research has indicated that e-learning technology is not utilized to its full potential in education despite greater degree of access within higher education institutions. The issues of pedagogy in current e-learning technologies and the importance of interface design in future e-learning systems have also been raised in past research studies. The purpose of this study was to do close examinations of these issues and then investigate them through faculty’s perceptions and utilization of Blackboard a commonly used Learning Management System, at a large Midwestern university. Two specific research questions guided the investigation. The first research question investigated the relationship between faculty members’ perception of Blackboard and their perception of Blackboard’s design. The second research question was designed to find the relationship between faculty members’ capacity of use and their pedagogical perspective of e-learning, as well as the perceptions of Blackboard’s design. Open-ended questions were also designed to allow faculty to provide more in-depth description of their concerns with Blackboard. Twenty-six common features of Blackboard were selected and subdivided into three groups—instructional features, interactive features, and visual features. Five Likert-type scales and one check-all-that-apply scale were designed by the researcher to collect empirical data. A web survey was administered to 1208 faculty members. A total of 154 responses were received, which met the desired sample size of 117. Multiple regression analysis was used to answer the two research questions. The result of analysis demonstrated a significant relationship between the perception of Blackboard and the perceptions of the designs of the respective aspects of Blackboard features. A significant relationship was also found in the capacity of Blackboard use with pedagogical perspective of e-learning, as well as the perception of the design of visual features of Blackboard. However, no significant relationship was found in the capacity of use with the perceptions of the design of instructional and interactive features of Blackboard. Analysis of open-ended responses revealed a consistency with past research studies such that most faculty members used Blackboard primarily for administration of courses and very few faculty members considered pedagogical issues when using Blackboard in their teaching. Recommendations for future studies are provided.

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