A Comparison Between Moodle, Facebook, and Paper-based Assessment Tools: Students’ Perception of Preference and Effect on Performance

Abstract

Literature abounds with research on the benefits of technology and its effect on students’ performance and satisfaction. The use of Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as blackboard, eCollege, Moodle and others are being used throughout the educational sector. Some even incorporate such technology to measure teaching effectiveness and student performance. Furthermore, social websites, like Facebook.com, have become so popular that 85 to 99% of college students use it in one form or another (Hargittai, 2007; Jones & Fox, 2009; Matney & Borland, 2009). This research explores the students’ perspective on how the effectiveness of tools such as Moodle and Facebook.com as well as paper based learning (traditional learning) on their performance. The paper also looks at different factors, such as gender, major type and age to try to shed light on the preferred tool among students to use for education. When it comes to students’ tool preference based on age and gender, we found no significant difference but when looking at students’ majors and time spent in university, we found that Moodle was rated the top, followed by paper-based learning, then Facebook. When viewing students’ perception on effect of these tools on performance, we found no statistical significant difference by age or time spent in the university but did find a significant difference among different genders; where male students showed greater satisfaction than did female students, and statistical significant different among majors.