Learning Management System (LMS): A Hub for Teaching and Learning
Abstract: 21st century higher education is increasingly incorporating ‘e-elements’ into teaching and learning contexts. Learning management system (LMS), such as Blackboard, plays a vital role in this process as institutions explore more complex methods in the quest to create digital institution and digital students. However, it is unclear that how and to what extent the learning management system has played a role within the process of teaching and learning. In addition, the literature on innovation and adoption of educational technologies (i.e., Technology Acceptance Model proposed by Davis 1986) suggests that many academics adopt a constrained or limited view of the capabilities and potential of a digital tool (i.e., LMS). Typically, we tend to adopt a conservative or ‘sustaining’ approach where the tool is used in ways that complement existing activities without stimulating any substantive changes. While there is an expectation and/or assumption that the use of the LMS enhances the process of teaching and learning, it is found that the pedagogical use could have been overlooked. There are also issues that hinder to the perceived role of the LMS in relation to engaging with students’ experiences in academic practices, particularly within the notion of blended learning. The diverse perspectives on the use of LMS in higher education appear to be the barriers for the effective and efficient use of the LMS in the process of teaching and learning
Presider: Ellen Taricani, Penn State University