Factors influencing students' use a Learning Management System Portal: Perspective from Higher Education Students

There has been high increasing in using web portal as way to connect with students. Institutions of higher education have started developing web portal for students' use. Almost every university had its own LMS for their students use. In this study an online mathematics portal named as Portal of Learning Calculus (POLCA) is designed to provide a centralized point for students to access information during teaching and learning Calculus at the university. This study aimed to identify the factors that influencing students using POLCA in teaching and learning of Calculus at the University. We examined five factors viz-a-viz the students' technology competencies, the role of lecturers, access to POLCA and attitude towards the usage of POLCA. Findings showed that the highest mean refers to students' technology competencies (M = 3.27) followed by the design of POLCA (M=2.61), attitudes toward the usage of POLCA (M = 2.51), the role of lecturers (M = 2.44) and access to the portal (M = 2.36). Research findings also showed that there was a strong relationship between the design of POLCA [r(214) = 0.547; p<.01], lecturers role [r(214)= 0.468; p<.01] and access to POLCA [r(214) = 0.327; p<.01] with the attitudes toward using POLCA. However there is no relationship between students' technology competencies with attitudes toward using the learning portal. Findings from regression analysis show that 35.5% variability of lecturers' role and the design of POLCA influences students' attitudes towards using POLCA.