Introduction: With the outbreak of the coronavirus and the disruption of the normal state of human life and death, the most social, economic, political, and especially educational activities changed to virtual communications.
Methods: The present study was planned with the aim of assessing the effectiveness rate of adopting Learning Management System (LMS) among students. A questionnaire method was used to obtain the perception and opinion of students of different courses and levels. The efficiency of LMS in seven different components was evaluated. The t-student test was employed to evaluate statistical results.
Discussion: The results of statistical analysis has been interpretated based on the mean and standard deviation of each studied components. Except for exercises and assignments, other components were less than the average limit. The value of the univariate t-statistic was determined to be less than 1.65 (standard t-value) for all components except exercises and homework. Also, considering that the p-value level for all components (< 0.001), it is concluded that there was a significant difference in the answers of all research questions.
Conclusion: The results can be used to resolve the challenges of E-learning. Due to the prolongation of the outbreak of Covid-19 and the intensification of its consequences such as increasing demand for E-learning, the need for continued economic activities, and employing new tools and more effective use of IT will be necessary.
Exrended abstract
Introduction: With the outbreak of the coronavirus and the disruption of the normal state of human life and death, the most social, economic, political, and especially educational activities changed to virtual communications. In all past periods, learning and acquiring knowledge have been essential and played a significant role in the progress of the world and saving people from various challenges. But in the current era, the way of acquiring knowledge and information in all sciences has changed a lot, and sharing it with the development of information technology has become very simple despite the complex design and implementation platform. In such a way that from printed and face-to-face training to the development of distance education, it has become one of the basic needs of the 21st century. The development of the Internet by creating concepts based on electronic learning and mobile learning and designing learning management systems (LMS) has greatly helped education. Technology has changed the state of traditional education methods towards modern education using artificial intelligence. Electronic education has greatly improved the level of knowledge of students, researchers, employees, and even skilled people through the Internet. With the emergence of this technology, numerous researches have been developed in the field of concept analysis, types of platforms that can be used, and their efficiency has been evaluated all over the world. According to the literature, the evaluation of students' attitudes towards the use of LMS in combination with face-to-face training has been evaluated under the title of "combined approach," and the positive attitude of students towards the combined approach has been acknowledged. Through spreading the Covid-19 disease in the world on December 31, 2019, which originated from China, and the need to follow health guidelines in reducing face-to-face interaction, the need to adopt a distance education approach with the aim of quickly filling educational gaps is emphasized. In Iran, with the appearance of the first symptoms of the Coronavirus, according to the order of the Ministry of Health, all schools, universities, and other educational centers were closed, and home quarantine was ordered as the most effective way to prevent contracting this disease. After implementing the announced instructions, various experiences were obtained. In this context, evaluating the performance of universities to determine the appropriate policy and explain appropriate management strategies in the future was one of the research programs. In this regard, evaluating the dimensions of e-learning has been one of the goals of this research.
Methods: In order to continue education in educational centers, in the academic year 2020-2021, after being closed for about two months since the first cases of the Coronavirus infection, the development and use of information and communication technologies in education gained attention from April 23, 2019, from the officials and decision-makers of the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology and the Ministry of Education of the country. This led schools, universities, and higher education institutions of the country to put online learning platforms on their agenda. The present study was planned with the aim of assessing the effectiveness rate of adopting Learning Management System (LMS) among students. A questionnaire method was used to obtain the perception and opinion of students of different courses and levels. The efficiency of LMS in seven different components was evaluated. The t-student test was employed to evaluate statistical results.
Discussion: According to the statistical analysis, it was found that in the six components of access and user interface, support and logistics in access, electronic content of course materials, tests and continuous questions, exercises and assignments, and the method of presenting the lesson and the final evaluation, the satisfaction of the learners is less than the average level (the average is less than 3). Only in the case of exercises and assignments, the average value was higher than the average (by 3.53). Based on the results, it was found that the students were satisfied with the exercises and assignments presented in learning (95% confidence level, sig=0.00) and stated that they had enough time and resources to complete the assignments. The lowest mean related to the method of lesson presentation and final evaluation is 2.21 and 2.22, respectively. In fact, the students stated that they are not satisfied with the two-way or multiple-way communication and interaction in the virtual education system, the method of continuous evaluation, and the final test of the evaluation scores of their learning. The results of statistical analysis has been interpretated based on the mean and standard deviation of each studied components. Except for exercises and assignments, other components were less than the average limit. The value of the univariate t-statistic was determined to be less than 1.65 (standard t-value) for all components except exercises and homework. Also, considering that the p-value level for all components (< 0.001), it is concluded that there was a significant difference in the answers to all research questions.
Conclusion: Based on the results of previous studies, many students have stated that the possibility of interacting with the instructor and creating motivation for learning has increased, and they emphasized improving the efficiency and quality of education. In the comparison of students' learning efficiency in three methods of face-to-face, electronic learning, and learning, it was found that there is no significant difference in the learning rate. Therefore, considering the cost and time spent for learning, they emphasized the use of distance-based learning. Therefore, evaluating the dimensions of electronic teaching and its strengthening can be effective for the continuation of this method of education if needed, as well as saving money and time. The results of the present study can be used to resolve the challenges of E-learning. Due to the prolongation of the outbreak of Covid-19 and the intensification of its consequences such as increasing demand for E-learning, the need for continued economic activities, and employing new tools and more effective use of IT will be necessary.