Distance education delivery has shifted from the mere meaning of distance due to the use of abridged technologies. Current distance education utilizes technologies that have made the term distance a metaphor. The affordances of technology have promoted student-student interaction; teacher-student interaction as well as student-student interaction across boundaries. This has been possible due to blended leaning that combines both the online component in addition to the face-to-face sessions. One of the technologies that have made blended learning possible in distance education is the Learning Management System (LMS). However, intentions towards the use of LMS have been a crucial element in contemporary literature especially in Africa. Consequently, one of the key determinants of LMS use intentions is attitude towards the technology. Hence, this study is focused on unraveling the key determinants of attitude based on a Technology-Related Stimulus-Response Theoretical Framework (TR-SR-TF) while addressing empirically, the mediating role of attitude on these determinants. In view of this, the study employed a survey design with the questionnaire as an instrument for data collection from a sample of 267 course tutors in distance education. The results from a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach revealed performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions as key antecedents of attitude towards LMS for blended learning. Again, attitude had a significant mediating effect on all three antecedents in determining behavioural intention towards LMS use for blended learning in distance education. The results of the study suggests that factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions should be critically addressed while implementing LMS-enabled blended learning because the former factors have a direct effect on attitude towards use intentions of blended learning for distance education delivery.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integration is essential, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. While the need for ICT integration in today’s pedagogical activities is inevitable, online instruction in Ghanaian higher education is still challenging. Referring to the pressing need for ICT integration and online instructions amid COVID-19, we assess the challenges academic staff in Ghanaian universities encounter concerning online instructions and ICT integration into pedagogical activities. We conducted a cross-sectional survey with 628 (response rate of 83.1%, N= 522) academic staff from two universities. Results reveal that instructors/lecturers’ challenges (inadequate ICT infrastructure and lack of stable electric power) and institutional challenges (lack of consistent practice and limited technical assistance) pre- dominantly affects online instructions and ICT integration. The implication drawn from our findings is that the challenges of online instruction and ICT integration in Ghanaian universities are interrelated. We recommend that stakeholders and policy-makers in Ghanaian universities should endeavour to provide holistic solutions rather than solving the identified challenges in isolation.
E-learning is seen as a potent option for mass education globally. Consequently, institutions are hastily adopting it to meet the 21 st century education demands, often without recourse to considering the antecedents that promotes the success or otherwise of this mode of instruction. In view of this, the study investigates the awareness and use of e-learning platforms in some selected senior high schools in the Accra metropolitan area of Ghana with emphasis on parameters such as perception, training, accessibility, and infrastructural availability. Questionnaire was used to sample 303 respondents in this descriptive survey. Linear regression analysis and correlation were used on participants' training, motivation and computer availability in relation to perception, e-learning usage and awareness of e-learning implementation. The findings suggest participants know of e-learning and e-learning platforms but lacked adequate training. The computer literacy was low and most schools lacked adequate ICT laboratories and reliable internet negatively affects e-learning adoption. The major mode of internet access was the mobile phones. Students had a positive perception of e-learning and its adoption. The study recommends among other things that the Ghana Education Service train and educate teachers and students on e-learning to enhance their use and/or development of e-learning platforms. Furthermore, it should provide properly furnished ICT laboratories enhance accessibility and e-learning.
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