User experience of academic staff in the use of a learning management system tool

Abstract

In Open Distance Learning (ODL) institutions the teaching model is moving towards fully integrated information and communication technology applications. To successfully teach or facilitate the use of technology, academics need to have a strong comfort level with the use of technology tools. The academic staff are qualified and experienced subject matter experts but this does not translate to having the necessary technical competencies to do online teaching. They consequently could experience feelings of incompetency to facilitate courseware on a technology platform. The objective of this paper is to identify the factors that influence the user experience when using a Learning management system (LMS) in an academic institution. The research design comprises a convergent, parallel design mixed-method case study. A literature review was conducted to abstract the factors that influence the user experience into a conceptual framework. An expert review was conducted to evaluate the conceptual framework and then a questionnaire-driven survey was performed. The quantitative responses were analysed and the results revealed that eight of the nine factors proposed in the conceptual framework do have an influence on the perceived user experience of the academic when using the LMS. The scope of this paper is the analysis and presentation of the quantitative results of the study. The contribution of this paper is to present a framework of the factors that influence the user experience of the academic when using a LMS and to improve our understanding of the experience of the academic and the practical challenges involved for academics that have to facilitate learning in an online environment. The findings should be of interest to developers of LMSs and to institutions in support and training of academics that have to use the LMS.