Abstract
Although many universities in South Africa endorse a Learning Management System (LMS), not much is known about the adoption and effectiveness of these systems in this context and even less is known about lecturers' adoption of LMS use. For this reason, this research aims to contribute to diminishing this knowledge gap by using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to investigate the adoption of an LMS by lecturers at a higher education institution. The case university uses Blackboard as an LMS. The three main objectives are i) to determine whether lecturers’ Perceived Usefulness has a positive effect on Blackboard adoption; ii) whether Perceived Ease of Use has a positive effect on Blackboard adoption, and iii) whether Attitude toward Using and Behavioural Intention to Use have positive effects on Blackboard adoption.The study implemented a post-positivist research paradigm that followed a non-experimental, correlational design to achieve these objectives. The study used the lecturing staff from one medium-sized research and teaching South African University as its population. The study used targeted sampling, where all 1700 lecturers at the Institution were invited to participate in the study via the University's strategic communication channel. The TAM has an existing and established questionnaire that has been adapted to various contexts, including higher education. This questionnaire was used to measure lecturers’ adoption, and 133 (8%) lecturers responded, which did not satisfy the minimum required sample size. Thus, the generalisation of results to the entire population is made with caution.The results showed that Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Attitude toward Using and Behavioural Intention to Use each has a statistically significant positive effect on Blackboard adoption at the higher education institution under investigation. These findings correspond well with international literature. Perceived Usefulness, or the functionality of the LMS, stood out as the most robust relationship with actual use. This finding prompted the study to recommend focusing on iii the five core functionalities of an LMS, which include collaboration, management, content, information, and assessment tools, in order to advance LMS uptake. By promoting these tools, the full scope of functionalities is emphasised; showing lecturers what an LMS is capable of. Studies, such as the current one, are particularly relevant in a time where technological advances are a central focus point in teaching and learning spaces.
M.Ed. (Information and Communication Technology