An investigation of the factors affecting students' acceptance and intention to use e-learning systems at Kuwait University: developing a technology acceptance model in e-learning environments
The current study has aimed to investigate the factors affecting students’ acceptance and intentions to use e-learning systems in higher education in Kuwait, based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM1). A theoretical model was proposed to study the effect of the following external factors: Internet self-efficacy, personal innovativeness, technical support, instructor characteristics, course interactivity and content quality. The study hypotheses were examined using a mixed method that comprised a questionnaire – a cross sectional survey and semi-structured interview. The data were collected from 336 undergraduate students registered on courses incorporating VLEs, particularly Blackboard, at Kuwait University. The study results provided support for relationships between the TAM Model constructs via two methods, where quantitative and qualitative results indicated that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were considered to be key factors in explaining students’ attitudes toward VLEs. Nonetheless, perceived usefulness was a more influential factor than perceived ease of use in terms of students’ attitudes and was also a higher predictor of attitudes toward using VLEs. Furthermore, the results indicated that perceived usefulness and students’ attitudes had a significant effect on the intention to use e-learning in the future. However, students’ attitudes were more strongly influenced than perceived usefulness as regards the intention to use e-learning. Furthermore, the results show that the students’ intentions to use e-learning were positively correlated with their overall attitude toward elearning. Regarding the effect of external factors, the study results reveal that personal innovativeness, instructor characteristics, course interactivity and content quality positively affected perceived usefulness. On the other hand, all external factors also had a positive effect on perceived ease of use. Furthermore, the study results show that perceived ease of use was found to be the strongest predictor of perceived usefulness, and self-efficacy was the most critical external factor influencing students’ perceived ease of use of VLEs.
History
School
- School of Education and Social Policy
Qualification level
- Doctoral
Qualification name
- PhD