Acceptance of Technology and its Impact on Teacher’s Activities in Virtual Classroom: Integrating UTAUT and CoI into a Combined Model

ABSTRACT

This study examines the acceptance and use of learning management systems (LMS) among higher-education teachers and the relation between their use of such systems and their teaching approaches in the context of online learning, following the community of inquiry (CoI) framework. A total of 326 teachers at University of Ljubljana completed a questionnaire. Our main research goal was to examine the impact of a basic Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) structural model, with the CoI framework as a complement. The latter adds three new aspects to the use of LMS for educational purposes, representing complex cognitive and social dimensions of teaching in the virtual space. We found that the crucial factor for LMS acceptance by university teachers is the immediate social influence at work, but the formation of the learning process largely depends on the characteristics of the LMS tools and the perceived usefulness of the application.