Female Academics' Positive Attitude towards Blackboard - Literature review Example

5.3 Internal Factors This section reports on how internal factors (such as beliefs and attitudes) influence the use of LMS, in accordance with the second research question of the study. It was noted as part of TAM (see section 3.3) that the lecturers’ beliefs and attitudes towards a technology affect how they interact with that technology (Asiri et al., 2012). This section discusses the participants’ attitude and views about perceived usefulness of Blackboard. 5.3.1 Participants' Attitude In this section, findings relating to the research participants’ attitudes and beliefs towards the use of LMS (Blackboard) are discussed. In particular, it was noted that there was a positive correlation between optimistic attitudes towards the use of technology and the uptake of the learning management system (Blackboard). The study generally found that female academics had a positive attitude towards Blackboard in terms of believing that: LMS is the future of higher education; there are benefits of Blackboard for students; the notion that Blackboard offers a broader opportunity for higher education to students than traditional face-to-face education; and that Blackboard provides access to female students given Saudi Arabia’s gender separation in higher education institutions. For instance, more than 50 % of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I believe Blackboard is the future of higher-education” (Table 21). The participants’ views suggesting a positive attitude towards the use of LMS were also reflected through a number of responses. For example, it was noted that “I think it is important to use new technology in teaching” and “...modern learning strategies and technical environment around us and which has become a necessary part of education” (see section 4.4.1.4). This is in agreement with the results of a related research in which it was found that 90.6 percent of academic participants believed that the use of learning management systems has a promising future in higher education in Saudi Arabia (Alshammari, 2015). As well, Unnisa (2014) noted that the use of elearning technology in higher education in Saudi Arabia is encouraging and the future looks bright. It can be noted that there is significant difference between the findings the current research, where more than 50 % of the respondents (female academic staff) believed that Blackboard is the future of higher education, and in the study by Alshammari (2015), in which it was found that 90.6 percent of the academic participants were of the opinion that the use of LMS has a promising future in Saudi Arabia’s higher education. The difference can be attributed to the fact that in the current study, only those findings relating to female academics were considered for analysis, whereas the study by Alshammari (2015) considered results from both female and male members of faculty. The difference can also be linked to the finding that fewer female academics compared to male academics use web-based learning in Saudi Arabian universities (Al Balawi, 2007), which could have an impact on female academics’ general attitudes towards LMSs. What comes out clearly based on the findings from the current study and those from past studies such as Unnisa (2014) and Alshammari (2015) is that attitude has considerable influence on whether members of faculty use LMS or not. This point is supported by Alshammari (2015) when he notes that attitude relates to how individuals respond either favourably or unfavourably toward a given phenomenon, which means that a person’s attitude towards LMSs influences whether the individual will use learning technology or not. Based on TAM, both attitude towards the use of a learning management system and the perceived usefulness (U) of that system affect users’ behavioural intention to use the system. Users’ behavioural intention to use the system is also affected directly by the system’s perceived ease of use (E). Attitude towards use of the system is directly affected by both E and U, whereas U is directly influenced by E. As well, TAM proposes that E and U are affected by external factors. Thus, attitude towards use of LMS is affected by E and U as well as external variables, and this in turn has an effect on actual system use (Alharbi & Drew, 2014). Since attitude is directly influenced by both E and U, and U is directly influenced by E, U is worth exploring further. Thus, the following sections will discuss perceived usefulness and the influence of external factors. 5.3.2 Perceived usefulness The perceived usefulness of a technology – that is the degree to which an individual believes that using a certain system would enhance their job performance or workplace condition – has an impact on faculty members’ attitudes towards the use or adoption of that technology (Wichadee, 2015). A number of research participants across the open-ended questions and interviews felt that Blackboard was useful, for improving teaching ­– helps “reduce the teaching load”; administration – “helps in organizing the various aspects of the course by allowing me to post instructions on the conduction of the activities”; communication with students – “to post homework for students”; and assessment – “makes conducting of quizzes and exams easier, faster, and more organized”. All these statements show how Blackboard is useful or enhances work performance in regard to improving how members of faculty teach, communicate with students, post materials and homework to students, and conduct assessments and quizzes. The findings show that the perceived usefulness of Blackboard is related to the benefits that accrue to both faculty members and students with respect to the handling of different course materials. This is significant as the research shows that for academics to use technology and LMSs, they need to see or perceive the actual benefits that the technology presents to them. As noted by Coopman (2009), the elearning technology has to be seen to be the enhancing the student-lecturer interaction experiences. This means that faculty members have to perceive the usefulness of a technology such as Blackboard when they use features such as email, real time chats, whiteboards, journals and online notes, file exchange and discussion forums (Palahicky, 2015). The perceptions that faculty members have regarding the technology are driven by factors such as the faculty members’ beliefs and attitudes, and this in turn determines the extent to which learning management systems are actually used. Therefore, since the perceived usefulness of a technology determines how the technology is received by faculty members (Alshammari, 2015; Wichadee, 2015), efforts to improve the extent of adoption of a technology and enhancing positive beliefs/attitudes towards the technology should focus on ensuring that the technology is more useful to the targeted users. Based on TAM, it was noted that users’ behavioural intention to use an LMS is directly affected by the system’s perceived ease of use, which in turn affects the perceived usefulness of the system (Alharbi & Drew, 2014; Davies, 1986; Lule, Omwansa & Waema, 2012; Venkastesh & Bala, 2013). In a study using TAM, Alharbi and Drew (2014) found out that “there is a significant positive relationship between the perceived usefulness and behavioural intention to use an LMS” and that “there is a significant positive relationship between the perceived usefulness and attitude towards usage” (p. 151). The two statements by Alharbi and Drew (2014) imply that when a technology is perceived to be useful, then users are likely to have a positive attitude towards it, which influences their intention to use the technology and how they actually use it. As shown in the current study, the female faculty members were willing to use Blackboard because of the system’s perceived usefulness in regard to improving teaching, helping in administration of coursework, helping in the assessment of students, and improving communication with students. Another area of the perceived usefulness of Blackboard is related to making it easy for female students to access educational materials from members of faculty, as was expressed in an interview response. Blackboard can increase female students’ access to higher education in Saudi Arabia because it reduces constraints that may be caused by large student numbers, long distance and inadequate resources (Macharia & Nyakwende, 2010), especially given that female students are separated from male students in higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia. Given that several studies have shown that female faculty members hold more positive views towards elearning and show more enthusiasm to implement it than their male counterparts (Al Gamdi & Samarji, 2016), making LMSs such as Blackboard more useful for female academics will inarguably increase actual use of the systems. 5.4 External Factors This section reports on how external factors influence the use of LMS, which relates to the third research question of this research. Two external factors (training and support) emerged from the findings that were significant. Training was selected because it was identified as a key enabler to the use of LMS both in the current study’s findings and in the literature review. Similarly, support from various quarters such as the education institution, the government, peers and students, was identified as a factor that affects the use of LMS by members of faculty. The two factors (training and support) are discussed next. 5.4.1 Training The provision of training can be regarded as one of the factors that promote the use of LMS by members of faculty. A brief overview of the survey and interview findings found that academics who had received training in areas such as web-based lectures (Blackboard Collaborate) or Blackboard features were more likely to use Blackboard in any number of courses. On the other hand, members of faculty who had not attended training were likely not to use Blackboard, which highlights the importance of elearning training generally and LMS in particular. Based on TAM, training is important because it affects both the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of an LMS, which in turn have an impact on a user’s behavioural intention to use the LMS. In other words, training has an important influence on users’ acceptance of a technology. This is because both the ‘easy to use’ and ‘usefulness’ aspects of a technology predict attitudes towards the technology (Davis, 1989; Renny & Siringoringo, 2013). Therefore, it can be said that when training on how to use an LMS is provided, users become more aware about the usefulness of the technology and whether the technology is easy to use, which influences their attitude towards and hence acceptance of the technology. In the review of literature, it was noted that successful delivery of elearning calls for significant investment by institutions in equipment and technologies, training of staff, and student monitoring to ensure that the technologies are used effectively (Albidewi & Tulb, 2014; Al-Shehri 2010). Further, it was noted that “after instructors get training, they can make use of LMS in their course easily” (Wichadee, 2015, p. 59). The aforementioned statement by Wichadee (2015) can be related to a number of findings from the study. For example, from the survey results, the fact that academics who had received training were using Blackboard more implies that training made it easy to integrate the technology in their work. As well, for the interviews, interviewee I-1, who had some experience in using Blackboard, noted that their university offers training on e-learning to both students and staff. On the other hand, lack of training or poor training can be said to be hindering the acceptance and hence use of LMS. This is shown by the fact that one interviewee who was not using Blackboard at the time of carrying out the current research did not like the training they were provided and noted during the interview as follows: “It [the training] was like course but, actually, it was not. We just learnt know how to switch on and switch off”. This means the training was not helpful as it did not delve into the actual use of LMS. Also, some of the responses to the open-ended questions as to why some participants were not using Blackboard were that there is “lack of training and support” and “I did not get adequate training”. These statements imply that lack of training in LMS use limits the usage of the technology, a point that is supported by various authors (Azlim et al., 2014; Fathema et al. 2015). Overall, the findings suggest that because of the importance of training with respect to how it affects the attitudes of users towards technology, there is need to enhance training for female members of faculty in universities in Saudi Arabia. This is because lack of training creates negative attitudes among faculty members towards using technology and this tends to limit the use of LMSs. With more training, users’ perceptions about whether the technology is useful and easy to use will be positive, and this will enhance LMS use. 5.4.2 Support This section contains an analysis of how support with regard to the use of elearning technology supports and/or limits the adoption and use of LMS by female academic staff in KSA universities. The analysis looks at how various kinds of support (technical, institutional, and any other kind of support) influence the adoption and use of LMS by female academic staff in KSA universities. The analysis is premised on the findings obtained from the current study as well as how the current findings relate with previous findings as noted in the literature review. According to TAM, external factors such as provision of support or lack of it influence users’ internal beliefs such as how they perceive a technology to be useful or how they judge the technology with reference to how easily they can use it (Davis, 1989; Renny & Siringoringo, 2013). At the same time, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have an influence on users’ attitudes towards a technology and this ultimately affects the behavioural intention to use the technology and whether the technology is actually used (Alharbi & Drew, 2014). What this means is that whether users get support to use an LMS or not determines their attitudes towards the system and hence influences the extent to which the technology is used. Various findings related to support as regards the use of LMS were noted in the study. In section 4.3.4, a number of elements of support were identified as government incentives, technical support, and administrative support from the institutions. This means that support offered by the government, peers, and the institution of learning is critical in determining the extent to which LMSs are used by female members of faculty. In the literature review, it was noted that the Saudi Arabian government encourages elearning in institutions of higher education (Alharbi, 2013), and that such an action is an enabler to using LMS. This is because by following government directives on elearning, institutions of higher learning and faculty members will strive to adopt the use of technology. Indeed, was found that some of the participants agreed that the government supports the use of elearning technologies. Another area of support is institutional support through provision of technical and administrative support. Provision of technical support was widely mentioned as a factor that can enable the participants to use Blackboard more. This point is supported in literature, where it is noted that providing technical support to faculty members is required to ensure that transition from classroom instruction delivery to elearning is successful (Alhomod & Shafi, 2013). Additionally, having administrative policies that promote the use of elearning technology is a factor that can help create positive attitudes among members of faculty and enhance the use of LMS. However, a notable segment of the participants in the current study (the survey, 37.8%) were of the view that their university did not have a clear policy on the use of Blackboard. What this implies is that most of those who use Blackboard use the system on their own volition and not necessarily because it is a requirement by the university. The same finding is supported by statements such as “technical support delayed” and “no technical support for me or my students”, meaning that most of the participants were of the opinion that their universities to not provide adequate technological support as regards the use of Blackboard. In literature, it has been argued that inadequate technical support and lack of clear policies on elearning hinder the adoption and use of technology (Azlim et al., 2014; Fathema et al. 2015; Maina & Nzuki, 2015). Read More