Adoption of LMS Moodle Tools in Student Learning – in Line with Teaching Practices

Abstract

The education of students in an online-based environment in the conditions of a pandemic leads to an intensification of the use of Learning Management Systems (LMS) by higher education institutions (HEIs). In the study, a survey of the higher schools in Bulgaria, educating students mainly in the field of social, economic, and legal sciences, was made. Based on a survey of a sample of 14 universities that educate more than 1000 students in the specified field, it was found that over 92% of them use the Moodle e-platform. The results of a survey of the opinion of distance learning lecturers at University of Economics – Varna (UE – Varna) for the last three academic years allows for a detailed analysis of the use of Moodle tools and the identification of certain trends caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: coincidence in the five most used by teachers instruments for the three years of the period; some tools have been removed due to low usage, while others have seen an increase in usability (uploading multimedia presentations, URL module and electronic tests), some gamification-related tools have been added that are considered to have good potential for increasing students’ motivation and engagement in learning.