The Impact of Academic Discipline on Student’s Engagement in Online Learning: An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model

Abstract

Tertiary education has dramatically changed after the outbreak of COVID-19. The use of the Learning Management System (LMS) in online learning has become popular. Many researchers are trying to investigate its features that influence the degree of acceptance and usage of learners among those techniques. However, some of their acceptance is not behavioral, but more on mental and abstract, which would be considered as engagement. In addition, academic disciplines would have a different focus on the integration of technology into their teaching and learning, thus, it would influence students\' acceptance of the technology. This research addressed this gap by studying university students in Hong Kong about the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and behavioral, agentic, cognitive, and emotional engagement. The findings extended the previous literature of TAM by adding engagement and academic discipline into the model. The current study demonstrates that LMS displays the potential of delivering learning and teaching materials amid the pandemic.

Undergraduates’ Perception, Engagement and Learning Experience in Online Learning amid Covid-19 Pandemic

“…They become more involved in their studies, improving their cognitive engagement. Similar results were also reported by Hughes et al (2020) as well as Chan et al (2022). They found that students are more engaged if they perceive that the technology used was useful and easy to use.…”

“…This finding is in line with the Social Cognitive Theory, where the environmental factor (both technological environment and social environment) affects the students' behaviour (engagement in learning). These findings were also supported by Chan et al (2022) and Hughes et al (2020). They reported that students were more engaged when the digital tools used were useful and easy to use.…”

Modelling the effects of emotional engagement and peer interaction on the continuous intention to use asynchronous e-learning

“…Emotional engagement refers to students’ emotional interaction with their learning in either a positive sense (such as when learning aligns with students’ identities, satisfaction, interests and values) or a negative sense (for instance, when learning leads to anxiety) ( Chan, Kam & Wong, 2022 ). Several previous studies revealed that, emotional engagement showed to be as indicator for students’ high academic achievement.…”