Looking under the bonnet: factors affecting student adoption of e-learning systems in Jordan

The primary questions addressed in this paper are the following: what are the factors that affect
students‟ adoption of an e-learning system and what are the relationships among these factors?
This paper investigates and identifies some of the major factors affecting students‟ adoption of an
e-learning system in a university in Jordan. E-learning adoption is approached from the
information systems acceptance point of view. This suggests that a prior condition for learning
effectively using e-learning systems is that students must actually use them. Thus, a greater
knowledge of the factors that affect IT adoption and their interrelationships is a pre-cursor to a
better understanding of student acceptance of e-learning systems. In turn, this will help and guide
those who develop, implement, and deliver e-learning systems.
In this study, an extended version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was developed to
investigate the underlying factors that influence students‟ decisions to use an e-learning system.
The TAM was populated using data gathered from a survey of 486 undergraduate students, who
were using the Moodle based e-learning system at the Arab Open University. The model was
estimated using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). A path model was developed to analyze
the relationships between the factors to explain students‟ adoption of the e-learning system.
Whilst findings support existing literature about prior experience affecting perceptions, they also
point to surprising group effects, which may merit future exploration.