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Evaluating Learning Management System Usage at a Small University

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Published:06 April 2019Publication History

ABSTRACT

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) play a significant role in academia. Such systems provide various benefits and features to facilitate and improve student learning. These features also support instructors and allow them to fulfill their mission. System benefits include testing, training, bookkeeping, and tracking. Additionally, LMSs may be used for blended learning or as plagiarism prevention tools. However, the level of utilization of these features may vary from one institution to another and even from one instructor to another.

In this paper, we analyze the use of Blackboard, one of the leading LMSs, at a small university. Blackboard boasts many advantages; however, its features are accompanied by a high price tag. Thus, we believe it is worth investigating the level of utilization of such tools. Our analysis will include several statistics such as an overall summary of usage, user activity, level of participation, and the frequency of use of particular features. At the end of this paper, we will provide our findings along with institutional recommendations regarding the appropriateness of the current LMS and the extent to which it was used over the past few years.

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          cover image ACM Other conferences
          ICISDM '19: Proceedings of the 2019 3rd International Conference on Information System and Data Mining
          April 2019
          251 pages
          ISBN:9781450366359
          DOI:10.1145/3325917

          Copyright © 2019 ACM

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          Publication History

          • Published: 6 April 2019

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