Blended learning or face-to-face? Does Tutor anxiety prevent the adoption of Learning Management Systems for distance education in Ghana?

Abstract

Learning Management System (LMS)-enabled blended learning has been adopted by higher educational institutions for promoting accessible and effective pedagogy and andragogical practices. The introduction of this mode of learning has altered the traditional faceto-face interaction. However, the lack of actual usage and online presence by instructors in an LMS-enabled blended learning environment seems to be a major setback for its success. Consequently, LMS-related anxiety has been cited as one of the behavioural challenges hindering its usage in Africa. Hence, this paper is focused on unravelling the antecedents of tutors' anxiety towards actual LMS usage based on a Technology Related Stimulus-Response Theoretical Framework (TR-SR-TF). In view of this, the study employed a survey design, adopting a questionnaire as data collection instrument from 267 distance education tutors across study centres within Ghana. The results from Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique revealed three underlying factors determining LMS anxiety, namely; colleague influence, outcome expectation and use support. However, the result of the Importance Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) showed that colleague influence was the most important indicator while outcome expectation was the highest performance indicator of tutors' LMS related anxiety. The study recommended that such factors like colleague influence, outcome expectation and use support should be consciously addressed in order to reduce (if not totally eliminate) anxiety towards LMS use for blended learning.

Blended Learning Adoption and Implementation in Higher Education: A Theoretical and Systematic Review

“…BL emboldens the reformation of pedagogic policies with the prospective to recapture the ideals of universities (Heinze and Procter 2004). BL seeks to produce a harmonious and coherent equilibrium between online access to knowledge and traditional human teaching by considering students' and lecturers' attitudes (Bervell and Umar 2018). BL therefore remains a significant pedagogical concept as its main focus is aligned with providing the most effective teaching and learning experience (Wang et al 2004).…”

Rethinking Communication and Crowdsourced Technology: Mediating Role of Mobile-Learning Tie to Broadband

“…Broadband causality of mobile learning is newly explored research interest, due to students' continuous use of online education. Consistent with blended and distance learning attitude (Bervell & Umar, 2018;Falode, Chukwuemeka, Bello, & Baderinwa, 2020). However, it is crystal clear the absence of effective broadband (BBW) renders mobile learning useless, therefore, expected to moderate mobile learning behavior, which eventual met the study expectation.…”

“…The behavior intention (BI) is to actualized technology as dependent constructs. The motivational aspects of how the intention to perform the behavior is likely that behavior will be performed (Bervell & Umar, 2018). The openness and readiness of the individual to perform an intended behavior could be immediate or otherwise (Ayvazo, 2015).…”

Examining user experience of eLearning systems implemented in two universities in Tanzania

“…Institutions in sub-Saharan Africa have been adopting various eLearning systems such as Moodle, Blackboard, Sakai in order to improve the quality of face to face delivery, and to increase access to education through blended and distance learning (Unwin et al, 2010;Bervell and Umar, 2018). These systems enable instructors to share instructional materials as well as providing interaction with their students both synchronously and asynchronously (Reshad, 2018).…”

“…According to Adkins (2013), eLearning systems acquisition in sub-Sahara Africa was expected to grow at 15 per cent per annum between 2011 and 2016. Many institutions in various countries such as Nigeria (Hoosen and Butcher, 2012), Mozambique (Unwin et al, 2010), Uganda (Mayoka and Kyeyune, 2012), Sudan (Elmahadi and Osman, 2013), Zambia (Ssekakubo, Suleman and Marsden, 2011), Tanzania (Mtebe and Raphael, 2018), Ghana (Bervell and Umar, 2018), South Africa (Pretorius and Biljon, 2010) and Zimbabwe (Chitanana et al, 2008) have adopted these systems. In Tanzania, for instance, nearly Examining user experience of eLearning systems 39 80 per cent of institutions have adopted eLearning systems with Moodle being the most popular (Munguatosha et al, 2011).…”