A meta-analysis of e-learning technology acceptance: The role of user types and e-learning technology types

Existing literature in the field of e-learning technology acceptance reflects a significant number of independent studies that primarily investigate the causal relationships proposed by technology acceptance theory, such as the technology acceptance model (TAM). To synthesize the existing knowledge in the field of e-learning technology acceptance, we have conducted a systematic literature review of 42 independent papers, mostly published in major journals. Furthermore, in order to view the research context by combining and analyzing the quantitative results of the reviewed research studies, a meta-analysis of the causal effect sizes between common TAM-related relationships was conducted. The main findings of this study, which is the first of its kind, are: (1) TAM is the most-used acceptance theory in e-learning acceptance research, and (2) the size of the causal effects between individual TAM-related factors depends on the type of user and the type of e-learning technology. The results of the meta-analysis demonstrated a moderating effect for user-related factors and technology-related factors for several evaluated causal paths. We have gathered proof that the perceived ease of use and the perceived usefulness tend to be the factors that can influence the attitudes of users toward using an e-learning technology in equal measure for different user types and types of e-learning technology settings.     

Evaluating intertwined effects in e-learning programs: A novel hybrid MCDM model based on factor analysis and DEMATEL

Internet evolution has affected all industrial and commercial activity and accelerated e-learning growth. Due to cost, time, or flexibility for designer courses and learners, e-learning has been adopted by corporations as an alternative training method. E-learning effectiveness evaluation is vital, and evaluation criteria are diverse. A large effort has been made regarding e-learning effectiveness evaluation; however, a generalized quantitative evaluation model, which considers both the interaffected relation between criteria and the fuzziness of subjective perception concurrently, is lacking. In this paper, the proposed new novel hybrid MCDM model addresses the independent relations of evaluation criteria with the aid of factor analysis and the dependent relations of evaluation criteria with the aid of DEMATEL. The AHP and the fuzzy integral methods are used for synthetic utility in accordance with subjective perception environment. Empirical experimental results show the proposed model is capable of producing effective evaluation of e-learning programs with adequate criteria that fit with respondent’s perception patterns, especially when the evaluation criteria are numerous and intertwined.     

Learning style based individualized adaptive e-learning environments: Content analysis of the articles published from 2005 to 2014

The studies on creating learning environments based on differences in learning styles have gained importance in recent years. Learning styles are one of the most important parameters in determining individual differences. Accordingly, traditional web-based learning environments have been replaced by individualized adaptive e-learning environments on the basis of learning styles which are more innovative. This study deals with the content analysis of the recent studies on Adaptive Educational Hypermedia (AEH) based on learning styles. 69 articles published from 2005 to 2014 were obtained through a comprehensive and detailed review. Afterwards, these studies were subjected to document analysis. The studies were categorized under the titles of purpose, nature, method, characteristics of examinees, level, data collection tool, learner modelling, learning styles, subject, and findings. Some of the studies offered a framework or proposed a model for AEH while others focused on the influence of AEH on academic achievement and learning outputs as well as learning satisfaction. This study examines the existing tendencies and gaps in the literature and discusses the potential research topics.     

Review of trends from mobile learning studies: A meta-analysis

Two previous literature review-based studies have provided important insights into mobile learning, but the issue still needs to be examined from other directions such as the distribution of research purposes. This study takes a meta-analysis approach to systematically reviewing the literature, thus providing a more comprehensive analysis and synthesis of 164 studies from 2003 to 2010. Major findings include that most studies of mobile learning focus on effectiveness, followed by mobile learning system design, and surveys and experiments were used as the primary research methods. Also, mobile phones and PDAs are currently the most widely used devices for mobile learning but these may be displaced by emerging technologies. In addition, the most highly-cited articles are found to focus on mobile learning system design, followed by system effectiveness. These findings may provide insights for researchers and educators into research trends in mobile learning.     

A design to promote group learning in e-learning: Experiences from the field

The Internet enables learners to be brought together where they can cooperate in learning in groups without space and time limitations. It is, however, quite a challenge to form ideal groups in a short time and ensure satisfactory interaction for learners in cyberspace. In this study, we propose a useful grouping method to help teachers improve group-learning in e-learning by first establishing effective groups with rules based on data mining, and then facilitating student interaction using a system that monitors members’ communication status. Field observations and quantitative evidence show the validity and practicability of the proposed method.     

Critical success factors for e-learning in developing countries: A comparative analysis between ICT experts and faculty

This study identifies the critical success factors that influence the acceptance of e-learning systems in developing countries. E-learning is a popular mode of delivering educational materials in higher education by universities throughout the world. This study identifies multiple factors that influence the success of e-learning systems from the literature and compares the relative importance among two stakeholder groups in developing countries, ICT experts and faculty. This study collected 76 usable responses using the Delphi method and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach. The results reveal 6 dimensions and 20 critical success factors for e-learning systems in developing countries. Findings illustrate the importance of curriculum design for learning performance. Technology awareness, motivation, and changing learners’ behavior are prerequisites for successful e-learning implementations. Several recommendations are provided to aid the implementation of e-learning systems for developing countries which have relevance for researchers and practitioners. Limitations as well as possible research directions are also discussed.     

Social network analysis of a gamified e-learning course: Small-world phenomenon and network metrics as predictors of academic performance

Social networks and gamification are having an important and growing role in education. Social networks provide unknown communication and connection possibilities while games have the potential to engage students. This paper analyzes the structure of the social network resulting from a gamified social undergraduate course as well as the influence that student's position has on learning achievement. In a semester long experiment, a social networking site was delivered to students providing gamified activities and enabling social interaction and collaboration. Social network analysis was used to build the network graph and to compute four measures of the overall network and nine measures for each participant. Individual measures were then assessed as predictors of students' achievement using three different methods: correlation, principal component analysis and multiple linear regressions. The resulting social network has 167 actors and 2505 links, and it can be characterized as a small-world. All analyses agreed on the potential of structural metrics as predictors of learning achievement but they differ in the measures considered as significant. A moderate correlation was found between most centrality measures and learning achievement.     

On the nationality balance of authors and references in selected MIS journals

Citation analysis is an established technique in literature analysis. It can be used to reveal citation patterns and thus results stemming from the analysis, including co-citation patterns and groupings of researchers, even reveal paradigmatic schools within a certain field. In this article, twelve major MIS journals — six European and six American — are studied to find out whether there are any differences in author selection and referencing patterns. It was discovered that the American MIS community is much more self-sustaining than the European one, which relies heavily on work by American authors. This points either to the superiority of the American MIS community, or the under-appreciation of foreign research, or possibly both. On the European side, the result might be interpreted as a sign of low-quality research, lack of self-esteem and pride, or again both. Clear differences between the editorial policy of the journals can be discerned: some journals accept the American hegemony; some try to maintain a balance between contributions from different countries; and some favour European research.     

The potential of synchronous communication to enhance participation in online discussions: A case study of two e-learning courses

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has been adopted in most e-learning settings. However, few research studies have considered the effect of different CMC. This study examined how and why synchronous communication affected participation in online discussions. Two online classes that participated in two asynchronous and two synchronous online discussions were examined. Actual and perceived measures of participation indicated that synchronous communication induced personal participation, which could be regarded as a complement to cognitive participation. Personal participation involves more intense interaction better supported by synchronous communication while cognitive participation is a more reflective type of participation supported by asynchronous communication. In synchronous discussions, the e-learners felt that they worked together and were not restricted to only discuss course content. This was likely to induce arousal and motivation and increased convergence on meaning, especially in small groups.     

The roles of intrinsic motivators and extrinsic motivators in promoting e-learning in the workplace: A case from South Korea

Acceptance of e-learning by employees is critical to the successful implementation of e-learning in the workplace. To explain why employees might accept the e-learning technology, motivational factors must be considered. Although the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) has identified many variables to understand employees’ motivation to use e-learning, current literature cannot conclude the roles of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators in the technology adoption process. Consequently, organizations often overestimate the effects of extrinsic motivators in promoting e-learning while ignoring employees’ intrinsic motivation. To examine the effect difference between the two motivational factors, this study surveyed 261 employees in a food service company in South Korea with the UTAUT instrument. Upon analyzing 226 valid cases with LISREL, the findings revealed that intrinsic motivators (effort expectancy, attitudes, and anxiety) affected employees’ intention to use e-learning in the workplace more strongly than did the extrinsic motivators (performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions). Furthermore, the effects of intrinsic motivators mediated the effect of extrinsic motivators. Implications of this study are important for both researchers and practitioners.     

Effect of personal factors to use ICTs on e-learning adoption: comparison between learner and instructor in developing countries

This research investigated some key factors influencing an individual’s behavior to use e-learning in developing countries through social cognitive theory for examining the adoption of e-learning by instructors and learners, who are the key e-learning users. This paper focused on the personal capacity of Information and Communications Technologies and also investigated the mediating effects of computer self-efficacy (CSE) and performance expectation on intention to use e-learning. The results indicate that performance expectation and CSE were crucial factors influencing behavior intention to use e-learning systems for both instructors and learners. This study also found that computer experience and personal innovativeness in the domain of information technology were prominent factors for instructors. In addition, some differences and similarities were identified in the results for instructors and learners. This study used structure equation model, partial least squares, for data analysis, and data were collected from universities in Indonesia.     

Knowledge sharing behaviors in e-learning community: Exploring the role of academic self-efficacy and sense of community

The purpose of this study was to explore the structural relationships between knowledge sharing behaviors (KSB), academic self-efficacy (ASE) and sense of community (SoC) of university students in e-learning community. The study was carried out with students who joined Facebook learning community that was created for the Computing I course which was taught with blended learning method. Data were collected from 316 university students by utilizing three self-report instruments: KSB scale, ASE scale (sub-scales: ‘social status’, ‘cognitive applications’ and ‘technical skills’) and classroom community (CC) scale (sub-scales: ‘connectedness’ and ‘learning’). The path analyses with structural equation modeling (SEM) further verified that students’ KSB were related to their ASE and SoC in e-learning community. The results of the study revealed that the ASE and SoC of the students positively affect their KSB. And in terms of sub-scales, the connectedness to the community, learning perception in the community, the self-efficacy of the students on the cognitive applications in the courses and their social status in the community positively affect KSB. However, students’ self-efficacy perceptions on their technical skills affect KSB positively but its affect size was smaller compared to other sub-scales. Further research studies and implications are presented and discussed.     

E-learning and face to face mixed methodology: Evaluating effectiveness of e-learning and perceived satisfaction for a microeconomic course using the Moodle platform

The use of Information and Communication Technologies in higher education has proved to be very effective in different educational environments. A less explored area is their application for evaluation on-line, since it is a different process, with specific components. This work describes a methodology that combines the assessment with multiple choice tests through the virtual environment Moodle and the evaluation by using traditional classroom exams. The proposed mixed methodology ELFF (E-Learning and Face to Face) was implemented during the academic year 2010–2011 in the subject Microeconomics: Markets and Competition in the European Union of the double degree in Law and in Business Administration and Management, to assess complementary aspects of the knowledge acquired. The obtained results show that it clearly promotes the participation of students, increases their motivation and improves their competence and so, their performance in terms of qualifications.     

Pedagogical-research designs to capture the symbiotic nature of professional knowledge and learning about e-learning in initial teacher education in the UK

This paper argues that if new communications technologies and online spaces are to yield ‘new relationship[s] with learners’ (DfES, 2005, p. 11) then research that is tuned to recognize, capture and explain the pedagogical processes at the centre of such interactions is vital. This has implications for the design of pedagogical activities within Initial Teacher Education (ITE) intended to develop student teachers’ professional knowledge and understanding of e-learning strategies.     

Using films to develop the critical thinking competence of the students at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC): Testing an audiovisual case methodology in a distance e-learning environment

The aim of this paper is to set out a teaching innovation project that seeks to advance in the development and assessment one of the fundamental students’ competencies from any Business Administration Degree, such as: critical thinking. We are going to adapt an audiovisual case methodology, developed and already proved in traditional universities, in order to help the students develop and boost one of the competencies required to improve the efficiency and efficacy of their daily activity in organizations, and which previously has been highlighted as fundamental by the academia when the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) was designed.This methodology uses short clips of films – usually, true stories- to help students to understand the practical implications of the theoretical concepts explained at class. We are going to evaluate the implementation of this methodology, and also its impact on the students’ learning process in an Open University.     

A study of the relationship between institutional policy,organisational culture and e-learning use in four South African universities

This article investigates the relationship between policy (conceptualised as goals, values and resources), organisational culture and e-learning use. Through both qualitative and quantitative research methods, we gathered data about staff and student perspectives from four diverse South African universities representing a selection of ICT in education policy types (Structured and Unstructured) and organisational cultural types of “collegium, bureaucracy, corporate and enterprise” (McNay, 1995). While our findings show a clear relationship between policy and use of ICTs for teaching and learning, organisational culture is found crucial to policy mediation and the way that e-learning use is embedded within the organisation. We conclude that although a Structured Corporate institutional type enables the attainment of a “critical mass” within e-learning, Unstructured Collegium institutions are better at fostering innovation. Unstructured Bureaucratic institutions are the least enabling of either top down or bottom up e-learning change.     

Technical note: Objective and subjective rankings of scientific journals in the field of ergonomics: 2004–2005

Ergonomics journals and journals related to the field of ergonomics were ranked according to a method developed by Dul and Karwowski (2004) to create the Ergonomics Journal List 2005 (EJL2005). The EJL2005 was compared with the EJL2004. The rankings of the best ergonomics journals in EJL2005 were compared with the rankings based on perceived journal quality from a survey among 130 certified European ergonomists. The results show that in the EJL2005, the six primary ergonomics journals are the same as in the EJL2004, although some journals changed position. Eleven new journals showed up in the list of 61 related journals (non‐ergonomics journals that regularly publish ergonomics articles). The total number of ergonomics articles in these journals increased from 605 in the EJL2004 to 623 in the EJL2005. There was a high congruence between the ranking of ergonomics journals in the EJL2005 and rankings based on perceived journal quality (Pearson r = 0.90). © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 15: 327–332, 2005.     

Electronic nose and sensorial analysis: comparison of performances in selected cases

Sensorial analysis based on the utilisation of human senses, is one of the most important and straightforward investigation methods in food analysis. It provides a unique information about the ‘food–man interaction’. Nevertheless, human senses, when considered as instruments, show several problems of reproducibility, stability and difficulties of expression, making it very hard to compare results between different panels. The electronic nose has been proven to be sufficiently accurate as an artificial approximation of the human olfaction apparatus when applied to well defined problems in food analysis. In this paper results obtained for tomato pastes and milk analysis, comparing a panel of tasters and an electronic nose will be presented and discussed.     

Using cognitive work analysis and the strategies analysis diagram to understand variability in road user behaviour at intersections

In this article, an application of cognitive work analysis (CWA), using the strategies analysis diagram (SAD) method, to model performance variability in road transport, is presented. Specifically, the method was used to describe performance variability across four road user groups (drivers, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians) when turning right at an urban signalised intersection. The analysis demonstrated that the method was able to identify a comprehensive range of strategies that road users can potentially use while turning right at an intersection, thereby describing a range of performance variability within intersection systems. Furthermore, the method identified constraints, disturbances, changes in circumstances and other influences on road user performance variability. It is concluded that the CWA/SAD approach was able to describe both the different ways in which activities can be executed and disturbances, situations and constraints that create performance variability. The implications of these findings for road design and intersection safety are discussed along with the benefits and drawbacks of the methodology used.

Practitioner Summary: Recently, the strategies analysis diagram was proposed as a method to support the cognitive work analysis framework in modelling performance variability. This article evaluated this method within a complex sociotechnical system, namely road transport. The application provided insight into performance variability across road user groups when turning right at intersections.