FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF USEFULNESS OF CANVAS AS A LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Abstract

Purpose: The primary aim of the study is to find out students’ perception of usefulness of Canvas as a learning management system and factors that might influence their perceived usefulness of Canvas. Theory: There are several theories utilized to explain the phenomenon emerging in the study and to understand more about the subject matter. Initially, adult learning theory is taken into consideration to provide more insights into the research focused participants - graduate students of two master’s programs. Also, to explain their actual usage and perception of usefulness of Canvas, consumer’s behaviors of innovative products, and two frameworks about user’s acceptance of use of technology: Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and The Unified Theory Of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) are utilized. Method: A mixed methods research design (a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods) was adopted to collect and analyze data. An online open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were utilized to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were implemented to analyze quantitative data. To analyze qualitative data, content analysis method, was implemented. Results: It was found out that students showed quite neutral opinions of the usefulness of Canvas. They mainly used Canvas to manage their course progress with some administrative tasks such as having an overview of the course, handling their assignments, receiving grades, and feedback from teachers. Therefore, students perceived the usefulness of Canvas as a course administration tool; also, they regarded the flexibility and mobility of the application as useful. Moreover, concerning the factors influencing their perception of usefulness of Canvas, self-regulated learning skills were found to have a statistically significant correlation with students’ perception of usefulness of Canvas. Besides, technology service quality support was shown to have a positive correlation with their perceived usefulness of Canvas; however, the correlation was not statistically significant. Lastly, it was interesting to know that there was a difference in perception of usefulness of Canvas of students from different groups of technology skill self-efficacy and prior experience with LMSs, but the difference was not statistically significant.