predicting e-Learning use intentions

As an education service institution, a higher education institution will focus on developing knowledge and skill of its stakeholders through learning. Learning is the creation or acquisition of the ability (potential or actual) for people to take effective action (Bennet and Bennet, 2008). Since people have been regarded as the most important asset in an organization, learning becomes an important way to achieve maximum competency of the people.

According to theory of planned behavior, three variables influence an individual’s intention to perform a behavior that in turn, his/her intention will influence his/her certain behavior. The three variables are attitude toward behavior, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. Beliefs inform attitude while normative belief and motivation to comply inform subjective norm. Furthermore, belief about how easy or difficult to perform a behavior informs perceived behavioral control.

In addition, TAM states that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use determine intention to use a technology. Perceived usefulness is an expectation that technology will increase one’s job performance while perceived ease of use related to the belief that using a technology is little or free of efforts.

Intention was used to predict actual use of e-learning. Generally, the greater the intention to perform a behavior, the greater the behavior should be. Since all predictors of TPB significantly influence intention to use e-learning, three salient beliefs hold by respondents. The first belief is behavioral belief indicating that respondents have favorable evaluation toward the behavior of using e-learning. Moreover, normative belief becomes the third belief indicating that respondents have social pressure to use e-learning. Finally, respondents hold control belief indicating that they have perception regarding ease of performing using e-learning. The three beliefs provide a psychological support for implementation of e-learning. Increasing perceived benefits of e-learning will increase the three beliefs among students that in turn succeed e-learning implementation.

Respondents also hold perception regarding usefulness and ease of use of e-learning as foud in TAM. As a consequence, e-learning should contribute to students learning outcome and little or free of efforts to use. Moreover, e-learning should overcome student’s learning difficulties and student’s learning maximization. E-learning design that going to edutainment paradigm would be an advantage. Thus, entertainment contents should be brought into education to achieve maximum learning outcome

As a conclusion of our research, implementation of e-learning predicted to be successful as long as e-learning provide benefits to students in overcoming their difficulties or maximizing understanding of lecture materials. The perceived benefits will produce behavioral belief, normative belief and control belief that influence intention to use e-learning. Moreover, e-learning design should be perceived as little or free of efforts and accommodating entertainment.