Asian Research Thesis Index

Abstract

The Internet has become a crucial technological advancement in the ICT (information  and communication technology) sector. The Internet provides a variety of services  including support for real-time communication among learners, between learners and  instructors. Technology has brought significant transformation in education in  combination with innovative knowledge thinking. The educational services sector has  developed and launched e-learning Systems (ELS) to enable education and training  efforts with the auspices of advanced multimedia technology and fast Internet  connections. The technological advancements serve as measure to meet the  increasingly complex needs of the students, as well as create a competitive education  market applicable to cost reductions in the delivery of education.  For understanding the factors affecting the acceptance of e-learning system  acceptance model and investigating the interface design characteristics this study  proposed an extended model of technology acceptance model (TAM). Therefore  different constructs from human computer interaction (HCI) and information system  (IS) are incorporated in proposed model. The TAM is used among most researchers  due to its parsimony, robustness and simplicity. Although TAM has proved its  strength in previous research studies for predicting user acceptance across contextual  settings and technologies. Nevertheless, some researchers argue that for explaining  user acceptance in new information technology systems such as e-learning system,  core constructs of TAM are not sufficient. Therefore, this research is based on  extending the TAM by adding some constructs in the e-learning system to better understand the potential end users’ acceptance. The study relied on two-stage  approach to enable the achievement of the aforementioned objectives. The first phase of the study involved the customization of an already existing e learning system with slight modifications to fit the context of the study. The  researcher involved the learners/students in using the system for a specially designed  course where the learners/students would use the system for two weeks. As such the  researcher experimented with the system to acquire a sufficient number of  participants.  The second phase involved a quantitative approach based on a cross-sectional  questionnaire for the collection of data from the students. The data was used in the  validation of the model created. The survey-based questionnaires strategy is the most  common tool for the collection of data in information system, software engineering,  and human computer interfacing domains. The strategy provides a fast, flexible, and  inexpensive way of obtaining feedback from system users.  Finally, the structural equation modelling methods used to test the proposed model  with potential users of ELS. The study has given developers and designers insights on  a user perspective, and this gives them a better position in which to approach the  development and provision of e-learning systems. The research findings emphasize  that users/students should be provided with a user-friendly platform making it an easy  task for them to execute academic functions, encouraging confidence in e-learning  system. Lastly, this study will assist in developing e-learning systems that consider  factors that might affect users’ perception, thus enhancing their acceptance.

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