EFL Instructors’ Perceptions of Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) at University Level

Abstract

The present paper aims to investigate EFL instructors’ perceptions of Blackboard learning management system (LMS) at Taif University in Saudi Arabia. To achieve this purposes, the researcher attempted to answer two questions. The first question investigates EFL instructors’ perceptions of Blackboard LMS. The second question aims to identify instructors’ suggestions to overcome difficulties encountered while using the system. A questionnaire of 4- Likert Scale was used to gather data from one hundred and two instructors to answer the first question, and content analysis was used to answer the second question. The collected data were analyzed in the form of descriptive statistics. The results, on one hand, revealed that 75% of the instructors have not used Blackboard technology before coming to university, which would affect their perceptions of the system. It was also evident that most of the instructors believe that the different features of Blackboard LMS are either poor or very poor. In addition, the instructors, in most of their responses to the functionalities of using the Blackboard LMS, rarely or never used the system. On the other hand, the results revealed that the instructors have a positive attitude towards the system in terms of its impact on learning, which can be the starting point to help them be familiarized more with the system’s features and functionalities through professional development. Based on the results, the researcher presented a number of conclusions and recommendations.