The effective use of a learning management system still promotes student engagement!

Abstract

Learning management systems have the capabilities of creating, fostering, delivering, and facilitating learning at anytime and anywhere. Although these systems have allowed students to engage in online discussions and collaborative activities, many academics believe that this online space has essentially remained a content repository. However, the fact that many academics simply use a learning management system as a content dumping site cannot be generalized across the board for all academics. No, such a blanket statement would prove to be a grave injustice to those few academics that are trying to improve their teaching abilities and promote student engagement and learning, especially through using a variety of tools which have been seamlessly integrated into many of these systems today. The purpose of this paper is to highlight how an academic in electrical engineering is still effectively using an institutional learning management system to promote student engagement through the use of four major features that are currently available in this platform. An ex post facto study is employed along with descriptive statistics involving quantitative analysis of the collected data. Results indicate that both academics and students engaged with all four primary features of the learning management system. However, the predominant features were accessing content followed by completing online assessments. A significant correlation was established between these two features and the final grade marks awarded to students at the end of the course. These results tend to suggest that some academics are widening their horizons and creating interactive experiences for students to enhance their learning. It is hoped that their experience and enthusiasm in using a variety of educational technologies will rub off on fellow colleagues to the greater benefit of students in higher education.