Technology Acceptance Model and E

8/7/2019 Technology Acceptance Model and E

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PLG 712 Sheila Shamuganathan

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Most universities have continued to offer partial, blended of fully online e-learning course since

the late 1990s. At present, most off-line universities have either introduced an e-learning plan or

have implemented e-learning. Despite quantitative growth of e-learning, there is growing

concern that stresses quality assessment for e-learning in Malaysia. The pedagogical e-learning

is closely related to the computer based training. E-learning system can be developed in various

ways depend on the requirement of the learning institution. Some of these institutions only

limited to course materials delivery through web, and the others have had integral framework for

their e-learning system to be used for regular students and distance students.

Laundry el al (2006) state that as education through applying the e becomes more interactive it

is extremely important for designers of such systems to know what students value and what they

find useful. Keller & Cernerud (2002) and others called for research on students perspectives of

e-learning systems in higher education with a particular focus on determinants of such

perceptions. Yet much of the literature on e-learning is more of a description on what the teacher

could do or has done online, while the students experience of those activity goes largely

undocumented (Shirley 2001; Keller & Cernerud 2002). Most of the literature found on e-

learning is more descriptive nature and very practiced based as well as the focus is often is on the

technology or system itself rather than the theoretical contributions and implications

(Nichols,2003). Yet this would help transfer the knowledge to other tools and contexts.

This study aims at investigating the issue of technology acceptance of an e-learning system

among the Matriculation students using Web Portal.

1.1 Advantages of Web Based Learning

Portals are gateways to information resources and different kinds of services . They areenjoying expansive use in all sorts of organizations. From corporation to educational

institutions, organizations are striving to provide services through their web portals. There is a

general agreement in the literature on the concept of a portal ( Abuhamdieh: 2003, Murray; 1999;

Shilakes &Tylman,1998; Smith,2004). Portals are characterized by distinctive use of a number

of technologies, the most common ones being the use of pull and push technologies which allow

users to customize their access to information resources (pull) and ensure that only relevant

information is sent to them.(push).

In addition to using portals as gateways to information resources, they are used as means to store,

share, and transfer knowledge through many diverse components and modules that these systemscontains, such as e-bulletin boards , email, and chat modules (Hatt & Graham, 2004) , and virtual

communities to improve students skills (Neumann et al., 2005).

The uniqueness and recent use of portal system, and the wide array of constituents they serve,

along with the different kinds of challenges they bring invites a closer examination of their

acceptance and use. Few studies have provided a detailed examination of these kinds of portals


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in term of their use acceptance; and their most used features (Carter & Belanger,2005; Li &

Wood,2005).

The general benefits of Web based learning when compared to all those shared by other types of

technology based training stem from the fact that access to the content is easy and requires no

distribution of physical materials. This means that web-based learning yields additional benefits, among them:

y Access is available anytime ,around the globe. Students always have access to apotentially huge material whether they accessing from home, from their hostel room. A

cellular modems (broadband) become more popular , students will even be able access in

a place that doesnt have a traditional phone line or network connection.

y Per-student equipment cost are affordable. Almost any computer today equipped with amodem and free browser software can access the Internet or a private intranet. The cost

of setup is relatively low.

y Student tracking is made easy. Students do their studying while they are connected to thenetwork, it is easy to implement powerful students tracking system. Unlike other

programmes like CD- ROM that requires students to print reports or save scores to disk,

Web Portal based learning enables the data to be automatically tracked on the server

computer. This information can be as simple as who has accessed the courseware and

what are their assessment scores, to detailed information including how they answered

individual test questions and how much time they spent in each material of lecture notes.

y Possible learning object architecture supports on demand ,personalized learning.With other programmes , students have access only to the information that can be held by

one CD-ROM for example. The instructional design for this type of delivery, therefore,

has been create entire modules and distinct lessons. Using Web Portal learning, there is

virtually no storage limitation and content can be held on one or more servers. The best

Web based learning is designed so that content is chunked into discrete knowledge

objects to provide greater flexibility. Students can access theses objects through pre-

defined learning paths, use skill assessments to generate personal study plans, or employ

search engine to find exact topics.

y Content is easily updated. This is perhaps the single biggest benefit to Web basedlearning . In todays fast paced business environment, training programs frequently

change. With CD-ROM for example or any other form of learning programs, the media

must be reduplicated and distributed again to all the students. With Web based learning itis a simple matter of copying the updated files from a local developers computer onto

the server computer. The next time students connects to the Web page for learning, they

will automatically have the latest version.


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1.2 Web Based Learning Environment in Penang Matriculation College

Penang Matriculation College is one of 14 colleges in Malaysia which has a web based learning.

It was initiated by Our Director of Matriculation, Dato Dr. Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad in the year

2006. One of the main objective in introducing this mode of study is to enhance learning and

teaching process and to fulfilling the curriculum of matriculation program in the MatriculationCollege. The web-based learning environment is WebCT , which is platform independent and is

accessed using a web browser. The environment has been customized specifically for the

Penang Matriculation College which consists of Chemistry, Physic, Biology, Mathematics Units.

My study is only limited to Chemistry unit and the course home page was designed to simply

access and navigation. It features three types of material: i. learning tasks ii. Learning resources

and iii. Learning support. Learning tasks included tools for interaction to engage the learners

i.e..forums (public and private),chat rooms, and a shared whiteboard, and guidelines for activities

and problems. Learning resource include content and information upon which learning is

based,i.e lecture notes, a collection of downloadable readings used for discussion topics for the

weekly tutorials, transcripts of synchronous online tutorials, and a web portal (link to relevant

websites). Learner supports include scaffolds and structures to support learning, i.e, calendar,

guidelines for team work and for tutorial presenters, course online, and tutors photos and contact

information.

Learning design elements Artifacts

Learning task Public bulletin board, private forums , whiteboard,requirements for reflective journals, team project,

assignments,hot potatoes Quizzes.

Learning resources Lecture notes, readings, transcript of onlinetutorials, web portal, e-books

Learning supports Course outline, calendar , guidelines for team work

and tutorial presentation, tutors photo, email ,survey questionnaires and contact information.

1.3 Statement of Problem

There is considerable evidence that todays students are not particularly strong in the area of

thinking and reasoning. Bransford et. al states that the basic problem is that traditional

instruction often fails to produce the kinds of transfer to new problem-solving situations that

most educators would like to see. Conventional instruction often utilizes simplified,

decontextualized examples and problems, leading to an inadequate understanding of and ability

to apply the knowledge acquired. Related, students often are not exposed to examples and


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problems that make knowledges relevant to them. Instead, students are asked to solve problems

that cause them to wonder Why do I need to know this?... because the information presented to

students has no relevance or meaning for them, they tend to treat new information as facts to be

memorized and recited rather than as tools to solve problems relevant to their own needs.

(Bransford et. Al 1990). This unfortunately, leads to inert knowledge-knowledge that cannot be

applied to real problems and situations.

In any learning and teaching process ,the success of imparting knowledge not only depends on

the teacher but also with the students themselves. (Jaya 2001). Among the weakness in the

present teaching mode is lack of interaction during lectures, tutorial and lab work. Portal

learning can be used as a supported tool in teaching. An-Nashmy suggested that lecturers should

choose the appropriate method of teaching in order to enhance not only understanding of the

students but also add value to our students education.

1.4 Objective of the Study

Technology Acceptance Mdel (Davis 1989) has been identified as one of the most established

models on technology acceptance, but has not been very widely applied to e-learning. This, and

the fact that acceptance and usage of technology are such crucial issue to those implementing it,

gives reasonable motivation for the application of the TAM as theoretical framework for this

investigation. The intention of this study is to investigate college students acceptance of e-

learning by applying the TAM with an herewith twofold objective. First the aim of this paper is

to investigate college students acceptance of a particular e-learning system, which is done by

using the three variable proposed by Davis (1989) in TAM that directly and indirectly determinean individuals intention to use a system. This will provide valuable insights for college lecturers

in order to succeed with implementing and utilizing the e-learning system.

1.5 Limitation of the study and Avenue Future Research

This study is not exempt from limitations. First of all, a sample of 28 students is fairly small as

well as the study is restricted to a particular virtual learning environment (Noodles). The fact that

the population of the studied group only consists of less than 1 percent of the entire population

of the matriculation colleges., the study could be extended to other population of matriculation in

throughout the country in future study. Due to this reasons , the outcome of the research could

not be generalized to the entire population of matriculation students.

Yet, most important is the need to explore which other variables impact on a students intention

to using a particular system in the context of e-learning. This could be done by testing , using or

integrating other well establish models like the theory of planned behavior (TPB) or work flow

theory as well as conducting an exploratory study of qualitative nature. The effect on use of e-

learning , as the dependent variable in TAM , was not investigated in the research model. Future


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research incorporating use of e-learning, into the research model would enable an incraseing

complete examination of the applicability of TAM.


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2.0 Introduction

The growth of online instructional programs raises an interesting question for online course

developer. Should we model our online course designs after formal models of instruction or

should we incorporate innovative approaches into our online programs? If we hope to develop

powerful learning environments via the web, the answer should be clear. Instructional designersneed to look for innovative ways to should be clear. Instructional designers need to look for

innovative ways to support quality teaching and learning without succumbing to the temptation

to have online instruction become direct instantiations of traditional forms of instructions.

Online courses need to address variability in students learning styles and provide external forms

of motivation for isolated student. The challenge is also to facilitate active learning in online

courses while avoiding the tendency to provide too much information. The most difficult

challenge may be to devise ways to promote high levels of interactivity among students. Quality

online learning environments should be comprised of elements of behavioral theory (e.g. ,

positive reinforcement and repetition), cognitive learning theory (e.g, address multiple sense,

present new information in motivating ways, limit the amount of information presented and

connect new information to prior learning), and constructivism theory.

The Web Portal in Penang Matriculation College has been operating since the year 2006. This

Web program is based on three learning theories-the Behaviourism, the Cognitivism and the

Constructivism are of importance as shown in ( Cooper 1993, Dietinger 2003). Implementing e-

learning courses using portal can be seen as a complex process going beyond systematically

executing steps within an instructional design model. Among large number of critical aspects,

(McLeord 2003) suggests instructors to consider principles of learning by means of historically

grown learning theories. Therefore in the following these three theories are described in short

and implications for realizing online course are derived.

2.1 Learning Theories in e- Learning

2.1.0 Behaviourism

The behaviourist school of thought , influenced by researcher like Watson, Thorndike , Pavlov,

and Skinner who postulates that learning is a chance in observable behavior caused by external

stimuli in environment (Skinner 1974). Behaviourists see the mind as a black box . in the

sense that a response to a stimulus can be observed quantitatively, totally ignoring the effect of

thought process occurring in mind. (Aktins 1993) highlights four aspects relevant for realizingonline courses with respect to the behaviourist school:

y The learning material should be broken down into small instructional steps beingpresented in a deductive way by means of starting with a rule , category , principle,

formula or definitions, giving positive example to reinforce understanding, and showing

negative examples to establish conceptual boundaries.


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y Course designers have to define sequences of instructions using conditional orunconditional branching to other instructional units and pre-determining choices within

the course. Normally, activities are sequences for increasing difficulty or complexity.

The sequence and pacing through the materials are usually beyond learner control.

y To maximize learning efficiency, learners may be routed to miss or repeat certainsections based on the performance on diagnostic tests, or on tests within the sequence of

learning activities. Nevertheless, the instructional designer may also allow a learner to

choose the next instruction out of a set of activities, giving the learner more control over

the learning process.

y The behaviouristic approach for learning suggests to demonstrate the required operation,procedure or skill, and to break it down into its part with appropriate explanation before

learners are expected to copy the desired behaviour. Learners are supposed ti build

proficiency from frequent review or revision with check tests at strategic points or repeat

practice with feedback. Instructional design emphasizes low error rate and the usage of

remedial loops back through material if necessary. Furthermore , reinforcementmessages should be used to maintained motivation.

Overall, behaviourists recommend a structured , deductive approach to design an online

course, so that basic concepts skills and factual information can rapidly be acquired by the

learners. Further implications on online learning can be summarized by the concept of drill

and practice, portioning materials and assessing learners achievement levels, and giving

external feedback.

2.1.2 Cognitivism

Cognitivists consider learning as an internal process that involves memory, thinking,reflection, abstraction, motivation, and meta-cognition as outlined by (Ally 2004).

Cognitivite psychology comprises the learning process from an information processing point

of view, where information is received in the sensory store through different senses and

further, transferred to the short term memory through different cognitive processes.

Furthermore the cognitive school recognizes the importance of individual differences and of

including a variety of learning strategies to accommodate those differences. Thus, different

learning styles (Kolb 1984), (Myers 1978), etc. refer to how a learner perceiver, interacts

with, and responds to learning material. In addition, cognitive styles are addressed e.g.

(Witkin et. Al.1977) describe learners preferred way of processing information, which is a

persons typical mode of thinking remembering, or problem solving. On-line learning Web -

Portal learning have the following aspects for realizing online learning:

y The teaching strategy have enhance the learning process by facilitating all sensors,focusing the learners attention by highlighting important and critical information,

reasoning each instruction, and matching the cognitive level of the learner.


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y The portal design tied up to new information with existing information from long-term memory using advanced organizers to activate exiting cognitive structure or to

incorporate the details of the lesson, providing conceptual models to enable the

learner to retrieve existing mental models, using pre-instructional questions to set

expectations and to active the learners existing knowledge structure required for new

materials.

y The learning content to be chunked to prevent cognitive overload. Exceeding anumber of five to nine items to learn, linear, hierarchical, or spider shaped

information maps should be provided.

y Strategies requiring the learner to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate is used topromote deep processing information and higher level learning.

y Online learning materials should include activities for the different learning andcognitive styles. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide adequate and the right type

of support for students with different types of learners:

y With respect to dual-coding theory (Paivio 1990), information should be presented indifferent modes to accommodate individual differences in processing and to facilitate

transfer to long term memory.

y Students need to be motivated to learn by means of learning strategies addressing theintrinsic motivation (driven from within the learner) and the extrinsic motivation

(instructor or performance driven). Therefore, methods such as Kellers ARCS

model the abbreviation for attention, relevance , confidence, and satisfaction {Keller

&Suzuki 1988} should be applied by the instructor.

y Finally, the teaching strategy should connect learning content with different real-lifesituations, so that the learners can tie up to own experiences and therefore can

develop personal meaning and contextualization of the information.

To sum up this subsection, cognitive psychology focuses on learners receiving and processing

of information to transfer it to long term memory for storage .

2.1.3 Constructivism

The constructivist school of learning suggests that learners construct personal knowledge from

the beginning experience itself as stated in [McLeod 2003]. Thus, learning can be seen as an

active process, and knowledge cannot be received from outside or from someone else.

Accordingto [Duffy & Cunningham 1996], learners should be allowed to construct knowledgethrough instructions. Furthermore, constructivist emphasise situated learning,which sees

learning as contextual and suggests strategies promoting multi-contextual learning to make sure

that learners can apply the information broadly. By deriving implications for creating

instructions for online learning, the following statements have to be made up:


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y Learning should be an active process by means of keeping learners active doing high-level activities such as asking learners to apply information in practical situation,

facilitating personal interpretation of learning content, discussing topics within a group

and so forth.

y To enforce learners constructing their own knowledge , instructors have to provide goodinteractive online instructions, since the students have to take the initiative to learn and

interact with other students and the instructor and since the learning agenda is controlled

by students. [ Murphy & Cifuentes 2001]. In contrary to traditional lecture where

instructors contextualize and personalize information to meet their own needs, students

have to experience the learning content at first-hand.

y As stated e.g. in [Hooper & Hannafin 1991], collaborative and cooperative learningshould be encourage to facilitate constructivist learning. Working with other learners

gives students real-life experience and allows them to use and improve their meta-

cognitive skills. When assigning learners for a groupwork, membership should be based

on the expertise level and learning style, so that team members can benefit from oneanother strength.

y Learners should be given control of the learning process. Besides, there should be goodform of guided discovery where learners can make their decision on learning goals, but

can also use some guidance from the instructors.

y When learning on line, students should be given time and opportunity to reflect thelearning content . Embedded questions on the content can be used throughout the lesson

to encourage reflection and processing of the information.

y Learning should be made meaningful and illustrative for learners by including examplesand use cases for theoretical. Besides, activities should enforce learners to apply and

personalize the learning content offered.

y Instructors should focus on interactive learning activities to promote higher-level learningand social presence and to help develop personal meaning. As learning focuses on

developing new knowledge , skills and attitudes , e-learning faces the problem that

psychomotor , affective and higher- level objectives are hard to reach within virtual

learning phases. Therefore , [Modritscher & Sindler 2005] suggest providing other ways-

such as social or interactive activities,context based learning, assessment through open-

ended questions ,etc to realize such didactical aspects.

2.1.4 Theoretical Framework

The technology acceptance model (TAM) was first created by Davis (1989), based on the theory

of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975 ) in psychology research. The TRA posits

that individual behaviour intention where behavioral intention is a function of an the

performance attitude toward the behaviour and subjective norms surrounding the performance of

the behaviour. Indeed, the TAM is the most widely applied of these theories (Venkatesh, 2000).

In other words, it states that ones behaviour and the intent to behave is a function of ones


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attitude towards the behaviour and their perceptions about the behaviour. Therefore, behaviour

is the function of both attitudes and beliefs. TRA is presented in Figure 1 below

Figure 1 Theory of reasoned action

Meanwhile , TAM propose that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of technology are

predictors off user attitude towards using the technology , subsequent behavioral intentions and

actual usage. Perceived ease of use was also considered to influence perceived usefulness of

technology. Figure 2 presents original present original version of TAM (Davis,1989),

spreadsheet applications (Mathieson 1991), e-mail (Szaina 1996), web brower (Morris & Dillon

1997), telemedicine (Hu et. Al 1999), websites (Koufaris 2002), e- collaboration (Dasgupta,

Granger & Megarry 2002). In this study , the e-learning was considered a system that makes use

of Internet and web technology in accomplishing its mission of delivering information to andinteracting with the students through a computer interface.

Figure 2 . Original technology acceptance model

Beliefs and

Evaluation

Normative Beliefs and

Motivation to Comply

Attitude Toward

Act or Behavior

Subjective Norm

Behavioral Behavior

External

Variables

Perceived

Usefulness

Perceived ease

Attitude

Towards Using

Behavioral

Intention To Use

Actual System

Use


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In TAM, perceived usefulness refers to the degree to which the user believes the technology will

improve his or her work performance, while perceived ease of use refers to how effortless he or

she perceives using the technology will be. Both are considered distinctfactors influencing the

users attitude towards using the technology, though perceived ease of use is also hypothesized

to influence perceived usefulness and attitude towards using the technology. Finally such

attitude towards using the technology determines the behavioral intention to use that technology.

Figure 3 depicts the research model employed in the study. It is a reduced TAM model,

excluding actual system use. The external variables constructs are also not included in the

research model as there is no immediate intention to examine antecedents to perceived

usefulness and perceived ease of use.

Figure 3 The research model ( A technology usage model for e-learning)

Therefore, the research hypotheses based on the diagram of the TAM model in the context of the

e-learning system are:

H1 : Perceived ease of use has a significant effect on the perceived usefulness of the technology

H2: Perceived ease of use has a significant effect on attitude towards using the technology

H3 ; Perceived usefulness has a significant effect on attitude towards using the technology

H4 : Perceived usefulness has a significant effect on intention to use the technology

H5: Attitude towards using has a significant effect on intention to use the technology

PerceivedUsefulness

Perceived

Ease of Use

Attitude

Toward Using

Behavioral

Intention to UseH1

H3H4

H5

H2


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2.1.5 Related studies on Technology Acceptance Model.

Prior to the work of Davis (1985), several studies had highlighted the importance of perceived

ease of use and perceived usefulness in predicting a persons behavior. An extensive review of

these studies can be found in Davis (1985). Schultz and Slevin (1975), for instance, carried out

an exploratory study, and found that perceived usefulness provided a reliable prediction for self-predicted use of a decision model. Robey (1979) later replicated the work of Schultz and Slevin

(1975), and confirm the high correlation that existed between perceived usefulness and system

usage. On the other hand,support for the importance of perceived ease could be found in the

meta-analysis of Tornatzkjy and Kleins (1982) on innovation adoption. Tornatzky and Klein

studied the relationship between the characteristic of an innovation and its adoption, and found

that the complexity of an innovation was one of the three factors that had the most consistent

significant relationship among a wide range of innovation types.

Bandura (1982) further, showed the importance of considering both perceived ease of use and

perceived usefulness in predicting behaviour. He suggested that in any given instance, behaviour

would be best predicted by both, sel-efficacy and, outcome judgment. Self-efficacy, which was

similar to perceived ease of use , was defined as judgment of how well one can execute courses

of action required to deal with prospective situations, whereas outcome judgment, which was

similar to perceived usefulness, was defined as the extent to which behaviour once successfully

executed is believed to be linked to valued outcomes.

Similarly Swansons research (1982) provided evidence that perceived ease of use and perceived

usefulness were both important behavioral determinants. Swanson hypothesized that potential

users will select and use information reports based on a tradeoff between perceived information

quality and associated cost of access. In Swansons work, information quality was similar to

perceived usefulness, whereas associated cost of access was found to be similar to perceived ease

of use.

2.1.6 Literature Review

Several authors have used TAM in an educational settings (Saade & Gailoway 2005; Roca et .al.

2006; Landry et . al 2006) and Saade & Galloway (2005) made use of TAM to measure

students acceptance of web-based e-learning tools. In both studies TAM was found to perform

well with the main hypotheses being supported and a total variance in usage intentions explained

with a little less than 40% (Saade & Galloway 2005). Landry.et.al. (2006) found usage to be

determined by the two TAM construct perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness and could

furthermore find support for the two dimensions suggested for perceived usefulness, namely

perceived effectiveness and perceived importance . The relationship between university

students perceptions of ease of use and usage of Blackboard elements was fully supported but

varied at different level. As originally hypothesized by Davis (1989); Laundrys et.al (2006)

findings suggest that if students perceive Blackboard to be easy to use, they would also perceive


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Blackboard to be useful. This could be confirmed also by Saade & Galloway (2005).

Usefulness turned out to be the strongest determinant of usage intentions (Laudry .et. al).

In order to predict a users acceptance behaviour of e-learning Liu.et.al. (2005) developed a

theoretical framework to explain students intention to a e-learning system using TAM and flow

theory. Additional variables that were investigated as different presentation types (Text ,audioAudio-video, Text-Audio-video) and concentration. Liu . et. Al (2005) found the difference in

presentation types as well as concentration to have a significant impact on usage intentions.

Roca.et.al.(2006) investigate students intention to continue using an e-learning system. As the

focus is on continued use, a satisfaction construct is proposed. Roca. et.al (2006) suggested that

the impact of the two TAM variables perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use is mediated

by the satisfaction. By making use of TPB (including behavioral control and subjective norm) as

well as expectation disconfirmation theory (EDT) , Roca et .al (2006) break down the component

perceived performance into perceived quality and perceived usability and further propose the

construct information quality, confirmation, service quality , system quantity and cognitive

absorption as antecedents of satisfaction. Roca.et.al (2006) found support for their proposed

model, yet again, perceived usefulness turned out to be the strongest determinant.

Several studies have examined TAM as a model to explain how people adopt and use e-learning.

Selim (2003) stated that there was a need to investigate TAM with web-learning. He put

forward the course website acceptance model (CWAM) and tested the relationship among

perceived ease of use and intention to use with university students using the structural equation

modeling technique of the LISREL program. He concluded that the model is fit the collected

data and that the usefulness and ease of use turned out to be good determinants of the acceptance

and use of a course website as an effective and efficient learning technology. Perceived

usefulness can be defined as the extent to which a university student believe using e-learning will

boost his or her learning. Meanwhile perceived ease of use is defined as the extent to which one

believes using e-learning will be free of cognitive effort. In this study, e-learning refers to pure,

web-based, asynchronous learning through an Internet site operated by the university. It is also

supported by the learning management system (LMS) of the university.

Lee, Cheung & Chen (2005) did similar research with the LISREL program to investigate

university students adoption behavior towards an Internet based learning medium (ILM)

introducing TAM, but they integrated TAM with motivational theory. They included perceived

enjoyment as an intrinsic motivator in addition to perceived usefulness and perceived case of use

in to the TAM. According to their results, perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment had an

impact on both students attitude toward and intention to use ILM. Howeve, perceived ease of

use was found to be unrelated to attitude. Meanwhile Pituch and Lee (2006) added system and

learner characteristics as external variable that were hypothesized to impact perceived

usefulness, perceived ease of use and use of an e-learning system. After conducting a structural


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equation modeling technique with LISREL, they concluded that systems characteristic were

important determinants to perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and use of an e-learning

system, and that the theoretical model based on TAM was well supported. Saade, Nebebe, and

Tan (2007) also insisted that university students participation and involvement were important

to successful e-learning systems and therefore students acceptance behavior should be assessed.

They suggested that TAM was a solid theoretical model where its validity can extend to the

multimedia and e-learning context.


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3.0 Introduction

The purpose of the study is to investigate college students acceptance of e-learning by applying

the TAM . First the aim of this paper is to investigate college students acceptance of aparticular e-learning system, which is done by using the three variable proposed by Davis (1989)

in TAM that directly and indirectly determine an individuals intention to use a system. This will

provide valuable insights for college lecturers in order to succeed with implementing and

utilizing the e-learning system.

3.1 Study Design

Matriculation students at the Penang Matriculation College have access to a customized version

of the open source platform called Moodle. It can be served by intranet and can be assess from

outside vicinity of the matriculation college. The Portal has 12 subjects that has been taught in

the college and each topics are divided into subtopic according to each semester. In each portal

the students have access to lecture notes, interactive quizzes, forum, chatiing,e-mail,e-book ,link

resource and etc.

The design of this research is quantitative research survey method. This study included samples

from the same practicum group consists of physical students taking the same course (SK017)

delivered by the same lecturer with the same characteristics and delivery design. Sample of

students from 2010/2011 intake, 2000 respondents were chosen based on the likelihood of their

current or potential involvement with e-learning. As most of the items were obtained directly

from the literature, the validity of the instrument was re-evaluated to ensure applicability.

Experts from Information technology department as well as 30 students evaluated the

questionnaire to ensure face and content validity of the instrument. The pre-testing led to some

small modification of the questionnaire.

3.2 Research Instrument and Data Collections

Research instrument used in this survey is a on-line questionnaire consist of 18 questions using a

five-point Likert scale with anchors ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree and were e-

mail to the respondents through portal. The survey divided to two parts and the first part inquired

about the demographic variables of the participants such as sex, faculty, availability of laptops,

origin, familys income. The second part inquired about the participant use of portal system. Theitems were translated to Malay Language by the senior lecturers of the college and were

evaluated by the head of unit from Information Department. These items were adapted from

various source , as indicated in Table 1


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List of constructs and corresponding items.

Construct Item

Intention to use (ITU) ITU1 I use portal whenever appropriate for school workITU2 I use portal frequently for school work

ITU3 I use portal whenever possible for school workITU4 I use portal a lot for school work

Attitude (ATT) ATT1 Using portal is a good ideaATT2 Using portal is unpleasant

ATT3 Using portal is beneficial for my school work

Perceived Ease of Use

(PEOU)

PEOU1 Using portal is easy for me

PEOU2 It was easy for me to become skillful at using porta

PEOU3 It was easy for me to become skilful at using portalPEOU4 I find portal to be flexible to interact with

PEOU5 I find it easy to get information I want from portal

PEOU6 My interaction with portal is clear andunderstandable

Perceived Usefulness (PU) PU1 Using portal improves my school work

performancesPU2 Using portal enables me to accomplish my school

work more quicklyPU3 Using portal increases my productivity in doing

school workPU4 Using portal enhance my effectiveness in doing

school work.PU5 I find portal useful in doing my school workPU6 Using portal makes it easier to do school work

The students who completed the questionnaires did so voluntarily with no reimbursement for

their participation. Their use of portal was motivated with the perception of better performance

in their examination. In the effect of increasing the participation of the samples, the lecturer did

the following.

i.

Introduce and reminded the student about using portal for references.ii. Weekly mail to inform and motivate the students.iii. Supervising the monitor of the practicum group

The survey was put on the web portal for easy access. Users were asked to log on to the surveys

site and answer the survey questions, which takes about 5 to 7 minutes to answer. The survey has

a greeting section that instructed the respondent on how to answer the survey. When the

respondent finished answering the survey, they clicked on the submit button of the page, after


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which they are taken to a thank you message that contained a link to an email address so that

respondents could communicate any comments or concerns they may have had while responding

to the survey. The participant needs to respond to the survey questionnaire within three weeks.

3.3 Data Analyses

This study uses structural equation modeling (Bollen,1989; Joreskog & Sorbom, 1996) to test

the theoretical model. The chi-square goodness of-fit test is the traditional criterion employed

to determine acceptance or rejection of the hypothesized model. A good fit is represented by a

nonsignificant chi-square (i.e the difference between the theoretical and empirical model,

between expected and observed relationship, can be attributed to chance alone). However, ch-

square is strongly affected by sample size and difficult to interpret (Joreskog & Sorbom ,1998).

Thus, researchers are urged to use multiple criteria. The following criteria were used to evaluate

how well the proposed model fits the observed correlation matrix (Bentler, 1988):

i. chi-square statics (non-significant)

ii. the goodness of fit index (GFI) and the adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI) close to 1.00

iii. the Bentler-Bonett Normed Fit Index (NFI greater then 0.90

iv. the Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI greater than 0.90)

v. the Comparative Fit Index (CFI grater then 0.90) and

vi. the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA, less than 0.05)

Additionally, this study used the ratio of chi-square to degree of freedom and the chi-squaredifference test to test the hypothesized model. When the ratio of chi-square to degree of freedom

is less than 5, it is conventionally accepted as good fit (Wheaton, Muthen, Alwin & Summers.

1977).


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