Gender Perception on the Effectiveness of ULearn Management System as an eLearning Platform for Distance Education

Abstract

The growth in student numbers in this 21st century has led to a number of institutions focusing on distance education where appropriate technologies and pedagogical approaches are employed to deliver courses to students. The study adopted a quantitative approach and descriptive survey analysis to investigate the differences in gender perception and the effectiveness of ULearn (an learning Management System) at the University of Ghana. To measure the effectiveness and gender differences, a Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA) consisting of 54 items organized into nine scales: Computer Usage (CU), Teacher Support (TS), Student Interaction and Collaboration (SIC), Personal Relevance (PR), Authentic Learning (AL), Student Autonomy (SA), Equity (EQ), Enjoyment (EN), and Asynchronicity (AS) was used. The study revealed that the level of effectiveness of the learning management system, from the perspective of the students was high. There were significant differences in gender perception on the effectiveness of the platform.

Keywords

• distance learning
• ULearn
• e-learning
• learning management systems
• platform
• gender
• asynchronicity
• perception

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