Web Based Course for G.C.E Advanced Level Electronics under Physics

Abstract

The Web-based Learning Management System or widely known as (LMS) lets Centralized Learning, Tracking and Reporting for Enhanced Performance, Instructors/Lecturer and students to share subject related course materials, make class notifications, submit course assignments and online forums. Current This type of LMS related website has focused on how these systems deliver and manage instructional content with little concern for how students' constructivist learning can be encouraged and facilitated. This research investigated how students apply LMS to interact, collaborate, and construct knowledge within the context. The background for this project was students' use in G.C.E advanced level electronics course under the physics of the LMS within the context. Ten students and seven graduates willingly elected to use the LMS, representing exemplary users of the course. Users' peer to peer messages within the LMS, online surveys, focus group interviews and instructor interviews were used to answer the study's overarching research question. The results indicate that students successfully used the LMS to interact and, to a considerable level, collaborate, but there was very little indication of knowledge construction using LMS technology. It is possible that the ease and accessibility of face to face meetings as well as tribulations and limits with the tools were factors that influenced whether students' online basic interaction could be further distinguished as collaboration or knowledge construction. Even though these limitations, students found several tools and functions of the LMS useful for their online peer interaction and completion of this course.