Effectiveness of LMS Digital Tools Used by the Academics to Foster Students’ Engagement

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of LMS digital tools used by academics to foster student engagement at the University of Technology in South Africa. International studies have examined how academics encourage student engagement in online learning environments. They also investigated what teachers do and why they do it. The study that explored this problem on the LMS was not discovered by the researcher in a South African context. The intent of this study is to fill the gap in the literature. Participants were 116 academics from the faculties of A (76%) and B (24%). The question posed was: Which of the LMS tools were used effectively by the academics to foster students’ engagement? To answer this question, embedded design was used in a mixed-method approach. Data were gathered using a survey questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended questions and interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed with the SPSS version 29 frequency distribution and percentage. Qualitative data were analyzed using Atlas.ti version 22. The results showed that 90.5% of the academics concurred that the learning activities on the LMS foster students to interact and engage. Instructional designers should support academics in the selections and the use of appropriate engagement tools on the LMS. The findings revealed that academics used LMS and third-party tools relating to the discussion forums, groups, Collaborate Ultra, Microsoft Teams chats, and WhatsApp to encourage interactivity in an online environment, as well as the development of authentic assessments in the LMS in this era of artificial intelligence.