Title: Room for e-learning development: the interaction between learners and the interface

Authors: Jamil Razmak; Wejdan Farhan; Serge Demers; Ghaleb A. El Refae

Addresses: Faculty of Management, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi, UAE ' Faculty of Management Information Systems, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi, UAE ' Faculty of Education, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada ' College of Business, Al Ain University, Al Ain, UAE

Abstract: The present paper enhances the online interaction between teacher and student, through the proposal and development of several innovative assistive and interactional features added to a new e-learning user interface (ELUI). Using surveys distributed to 102 students and interviews with ten professors in the same community setting, the study measures student satisfaction toward the suggested interface and explores professors' perceptions regarding the effect of these features as contrasted to the physical classroom. The results reveal that all embedded features of interactional communication in the proposed ELUI resulted in a high level of satisfaction from respondents. Interviews with professors revealed potential concerns of online teaching, suggesting that the proposed ELUI would complement, rather than replace, the traditional classroom. The results further suggest that professors, academic decision-makers and developers should all consider student satisfaction in terms of adopting these features in e-learning systems. These stakeholders should be proactive in recognising and promoting the benefits of these features to address implementation concerns and maximise the value of learning systems. The stakeholders also should offer a user-friendly system, an interactive learning environment, support for future updates through useful system content, and personalisation through the ability to modify content and layout.

Keywords: e-learning user interface; ELUI; electronic learning; interactional communication; student satisfaction; professors' perceptions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWBC.2021.116635

International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2021 Vol.17 No.3, pp.175 - 199

Received: 27 Oct 2020
Accepted: 13 Jan 2021
Published online: 28 Jul 2021 *

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