trust among the instructors to encourage them to use
LMS in their teaching.
4. Consideration of Usefulness and Comfortability
Component of LMS: The institutions should make
greater use of LMSs, which are valuable platforms for
sharing materials, content delivery, collaboration, communication with peers and students, and participating in
forums. The management of HEIs should make sure that
the usefulness and benefits of the LMS are given due
attention. In light of such a finding, it is recommended
that the usefulness of LMSs should be an important
factor for LMS designers to consider when developing
LMS-related applications. Furthermore, effort expectancy
(ease of use) being a significant predictor of LMS usage
indicates that instructors having positive perceptions on
the ease of use and comfortability with the LMS would
have greater intention to adopt the LMS. Hence, LMS
designers are recommended to use the findings of this
study to reassess and redesign the interface structure of
the LMS. It is recommended that unnecessary complexity
should be removed from the LMS interface to make it
simple. To promote their product, the LMS providers
may need to ensure that their systems are easy-to-use,
user-friendly, entertaining, and compatible with all
teaching and learning environments.
5. Improving Literacy and Awareness of Benefits of the
LMS: The findings of this study suggest the need to raise
awareness of the benefits of LMS among instructors. It
can be highlighted through the mass media or via interpersonal levels (Rogers, 1995). Management might
consider investing in the advertisement to improve literacy and the awareness of the LMS among instructors at
higher educational institutions and encourage those
instructors who do use the LMS to convey a positive
message to those who do not use it.
6. Choosing Right LMS and Right LMS Provider:
Blackboard was introduced by Blackboard Corporation
in 1997 and is being used for teaching and learning in
worldwide universities (Sharma et al., 2011). As technology continues to advance, Blackboard experiences
growing competition from competitors, such as Moodle,
Desire2learn, and other rivals. Due to the availability of a
diverse LMSs, higher educational institutions now have a
wide variety of options to choose from to manage their
learning curriculum. Each LMS provides specific functionalities and content management approaches, so
choosing the appropriate LMS system becomes an
important concern for the management of higher educational institutions. Another concern is that one LMS does
not provide enough finalized, comprehensive functions to
satisfy all the demands of the institutions. Therefore, it is
not possible to recommend a specific LMS for all institutions. The key features of the LMSs are the consideration for the management to choose a flexible LMS
system that fits the teaching and learning environments of
their institution. The management should be aware of the
importance of not only the right choice of the LMS but
also selecting the trusted providers of the LMS. The right
LMS should fit into the teaching properly and the right
LMS providers should provide timely and appropriate
technical support when needed.
7. Considering Cultural Aspects: In the Middle East culture, religion plays an important role in shaping social
norms, traditions, obligations, and practices of society
(Al-saggaf, 2004). To bring increased acceptance of the
new technology, it is suggested that technology should
be designed to match with the cultural values of the
society. Since the culture strongly moderates the adoption behavior of the individuals within the society, the
practitioners and policymakers should consider that the
implementation may be tied to acceptance within these
specific cultural parameters.
8. Need for Development of Advance Features of LMS
• Mobile applications are currently available in most
LMSs. LMSs should also include a text-based interface so
that off-campus students having a low level of Internet
connectivity can also access the content. In some areas,
the loading speed of LMS becomes a barrier to access,
due to low bandwidth. The existence of a text-based
interface will increase the accessibility of the course sites.
Therefore, it is a recommendation for LMS designers that
options for lighter applications should be made available
so that off-campus students may reap the benefits of
LMS.
• Although standard search features are available in most
LMSs, advance searchable features are not available in
some cases. It is recommended that search systems within
a course site should be improved by integrating enhanced
search features in LMSs. Such improvements would be
beneficial for instructors and students, as well.
• Students who are not aware of technical issues may be
vulnerable to security risks such as phishing, theft, and
computer viruses. There should be a text or sound
warning to the students leaving without logging out. It is
important to note that a text-based warning about critical
risks might be overlooked by students. Therefore, critical
situations could be stressed by the use of sounds or
images, such as a pop-up window with a sound to warn
students that they are about to leave the LMS site. This
would produce an error-tolerant system.
9.5 Macro-Level and Micro-Level Recommendations
87
LMS in their teaching.
4. Consideration of Usefulness and Comfortability
Component of LMS: The institutions should make
greater use of LMSs, which are valuable platforms for
sharing materials, content delivery, collaboration, communication with peers and students, and participating in
forums. The management of HEIs should make sure that
the usefulness and benefits of the LMS are given due
attention. In light of such a finding, it is recommended
that the usefulness of LMSs should be an important
factor for LMS designers to consider when developing
LMS-related applications. Furthermore, effort expectancy
(ease of use) being a significant predictor of LMS usage
indicates that instructors having positive perceptions on
the ease of use and comfortability with the LMS would
have greater intention to adopt the LMS. Hence, LMS
designers are recommended to use the findings of this
study to reassess and redesign the interface structure of
the LMS. It is recommended that unnecessary complexity
should be removed from the LMS interface to make it
simple. To promote their product, the LMS providers
may need to ensure that their systems are easy-to-use,
user-friendly, entertaining, and compatible with all
teaching and learning environments.
5. Improving Literacy and Awareness of Benefits of the
LMS: The findings of this study suggest the need to raise
awareness of the benefits of LMS among instructors. It
can be highlighted through the mass media or via interpersonal levels (Rogers, 1995). Management might
consider investing in the advertisement to improve literacy and the awareness of the LMS among instructors at
higher educational institutions and encourage those
instructors who do use the LMS to convey a positive
message to those who do not use it.
6. Choosing Right LMS and Right LMS Provider:
Blackboard was introduced by Blackboard Corporation
in 1997 and is being used for teaching and learning in
worldwide universities (Sharma et al., 2011). As technology continues to advance, Blackboard experiences
growing competition from competitors, such as Moodle,
Desire2learn, and other rivals. Due to the availability of a
diverse LMSs, higher educational institutions now have a
wide variety of options to choose from to manage their
learning curriculum. Each LMS provides specific functionalities and content management approaches, so
choosing the appropriate LMS system becomes an
important concern for the management of higher educational institutions. Another concern is that one LMS does
not provide enough finalized, comprehensive functions to
satisfy all the demands of the institutions. Therefore, it is
not possible to recommend a specific LMS for all institutions. The key features of the LMSs are the consideration for the management to choose a flexible LMS
system that fits the teaching and learning environments of
their institution. The management should be aware of the
importance of not only the right choice of the LMS but
also selecting the trusted providers of the LMS. The right
LMS should fit into the teaching properly and the right
LMS providers should provide timely and appropriate
technical support when needed.
7. Considering Cultural Aspects: In the Middle East culture, religion plays an important role in shaping social
norms, traditions, obligations, and practices of society
(Al-saggaf, 2004). To bring increased acceptance of the
new technology, it is suggested that technology should
be designed to match with the cultural values of the
society. Since the culture strongly moderates the adoption behavior of the individuals within the society, the
practitioners and policymakers should consider that the
implementation may be tied to acceptance within these
specific cultural parameters.
8. Need for Development of Advance Features of LMS
• Mobile applications are currently available in most
LMSs. LMSs should also include a text-based interface so
that off-campus students having a low level of Internet
connectivity can also access the content. In some areas,
the loading speed of LMS becomes a barrier to access,
due to low bandwidth. The existence of a text-based
interface will increase the accessibility of the course sites.
Therefore, it is a recommendation for LMS designers that
options for lighter applications should be made available
so that off-campus students may reap the benefits of
LMS.
• Although standard search features are available in most
LMSs, advance searchable features are not available in
some cases. It is recommended that search systems within
a course site should be improved by integrating enhanced
search features in LMSs. Such improvements would be
beneficial for instructors and students, as well.
• Students who are not aware of technical issues may be
vulnerable to security risks such as phishing, theft, and
computer viruses. There should be a text or sound
warning to the students leaving without logging out. It is
important to note that a text-based warning about critical
risks might be overlooked by students. Therefore, critical
situations could be stressed by the use of sounds or
images, such as a pop-up window with a sound to warn
students that they are about to leave the LMS site. This
would produce an error-tolerant system.
9.5 Macro-Level and Micro-Level Recommendations
87