WHY IS MOODLE NOT USED AS A TEACHING TOOL? ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF MOODLE IN A HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION IN CHILE

While the LMS systems continue to develop and increase the didactic functionalities of the learning environment, with tools that are always more improve to collaborative learning, the development of their pedagogical use continues, after decades, extremely limited. Different studies have shown that perfecting and training in the use of ICTs have not been enough to produce a significant change in teaching practice.The competence of teachers to know why, when and how best to implement the technologies, the frequency of use, together with a pedagogical competence, play a decisive role for the adoption of the tools and for the promotion of new teaching strategies.

The purpose of this study has been to identify which are the main reasons why teachers do not use Moodle or use it very little, in their teaching practice. To this end, a survey was conducted of a population of 640 teachers from a higher technical professional education institution in Chile. Among the reasons identified for why Moodle is not used with pedagogical purpouse, the common opinion stands out that the main usefulness of the platform is for management work. Considering that nowadays most of the educational institutions, of higher education, have adopted the LMS as a management system, causing the teacher to be forced to use it for these tasks, it leads us to affirm that the frequency of use is one of the factors that most determine the concept of utility that is had of the tools and that therefore influences the degree of adoption of the same. Among other relevant reasons for not using the platform is the feeling of having to invest a lot of time. Also in this case the frequency of use together with pedagogical skills, could influence, in a favorable way, the investment of time necessary to manage the platform. It is evident, therefore, that the degree of use of ICT in the classroom, together with instrumental skill, responds to multiple factors, among which we highlight the pedagogical skills and the frequency of use.