Restructuring learning management systems for Mobile phone use: A case of Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

Abstract

As universities in Uganda strive to satisfy their students' needs, they are facing various challenges ranging from educational to economic challenges. Some challenges require that universities have to adopt to new mechanisms of interacting with their students. ICT has proved to be an essential component of the education system by bridging the gap between students and Lecturers. The application of ICT to enhance teaching and learning is commonly referred to as E-learning. Learning Management Systems are among the ICT tools that can be used to implement e-learning in high institutions of learning. The success of LMSs in high institutions of learning is mainly attributed to Internet penetration as well as a well-developed ICT infrastructure. However, the adoption rates for LMSs are still very low in Sub-Saharan countries, in particular Uganda and MUST due to Poor internet facilities, lack of personal computers by students to access the LMS, Lack of user involvement during the initial design process of LMSs, Weak and unimplemented ICT policies regarding LMS usage, Unstable power among other hindrances. In this research, we carried out a survey to investigate the percentage of students who own smart phones and would prefer to use their phones to access selected LMS services that are more needed by users at MUST. It was interesting to note that that 75% of the participants owned smart phones and / Tablets and 62.5% preferred to use their mobile phones to access LMS services compared to 19.5% who preferred to use their Personal computers. This implies that mobile phones can successfully be used as an alternative way for accessing the LMS.

Course outline, Assignments, Download, Announcements, chats and SMS alerts were proved to be the most required services by users at MUST.

User centered design, participatory design and paper prototyping were successfully used during the design process. Results obtained from the deployment of the mobile phone based LMS indicated that there was an increase in the LMS usage. This increase in usage was mainly attributed to the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and users' intention to use the system since users had been involved in the initial design of the system which made them accountable to the system.