Abstract:

Background:
The education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa particularly, higher education institutions (HEIs) have experienced an abrupt transition from the traditional face-to-face or blended approach to exclusively online methods of teaching and learning. The sudden transition is attributed to the Corona virus SARS-COV-2 pandemic declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in March 2020 and subsequent preventative precautionary protocols to curb its spread rate globally. Beyond the use of a learning management systems (LMS), it is still unclear if and how the technology is infused into the adjusted “new normal”, from which HEIs in Sub-Saharan Africa are not exempted.

Aim/Objective:
In the light of emergent and continuous complexities in the higher education landscape in recent times, adaptive use of LMS have become rather urgent - if intended learning outcomes are to be realized. This study seeks to understand how adaptive use by students of HEIs have influenced the infusion of LMS at a South African University of Technology (UoT) while adhering to the precautionary protocols associated with the Corona virus pandemic. The guiding question is: What are the factors that influence the infusion of LMS for learning at a UoT?

Method:
To capture the experiences of participants, an open-ended questionnaire was administered to students through Microsoft form link. The participants were purposively selected based on having experienced a blended learning approach and exclusive online learning. The participants were students selected from within a department at a University of Technology in South Africa. The data was subjected to thematic analysis to identify patterns and interpretations that address infusion of LMS for learning through its adaptive use. Ethics clearance was granted by a Faculty research ethics committee of the UoT once all conditions were satisfied.

Results:
The data analysis suggests that users' satisfaction with LMS for learning is due to their intention to use LMS, perceived ease of LMS features use and asynchronous option of learning which aids them to achieve their immediate intended outcomes - which is evidence of participation. Students’ use of LMS features is fairly limited to access and download of course content files; view updates; upload of assignments and attending lectures virtually. While the majority of students are enabled to execute their learning activities, exclusive online learning has no significant impact on academic performances. The adaptive use of LMS varied because of limited digital literacy, facilitating conditions particularly, load shedding, internet access, convenient use of electronic devices and lack of training to stimulate extensive use of LMS features.

Conclusion:
This study contributes towards understanding the factors that enable infusion of the LMS for learning at a South African UoT. The factors include: agency, perceived usefulness of LMS features; provision of internet access and training for learners; logged participation of students, gratifications, and satisfaction. The results of the study would enable HEIs' management to identify the ideal gaps to be addressed for the full benefits of LMS for learning to be realized. Future research is needed to gain in-depth insights into how the roles and quality of instructors impact on student's adaptive use of LMS since the Corona virus SARS-COV-2 pandemic, towards building a resilient education system.

Keywords:

Technology Infusion, Adaptive use, e-learning, Facilitating conditions, Higher education.