Abstract:

That course management systems (CMS) are relevant to higher education is beyond question. Tertiary institutions invest significant resources in developing CMS and promoting their use by faculty members. Considerable research has been undertaken with respect to cost-effectiveness, to the buy as opposed to build quandary and also to CMS product rating. Far fewer studies have been devoted to what views the faculty members who use/do not use the technology have about such systems. The American University of Sharjah (AUS) has a strong commitment to CMS through investment in iLearn as a future teaching and learning medium. This paper compares findings from interviews with faculty with findings from faculty focus group discussions. The tension that sometimes exists between the ‘managed’ responses of interviews and the ‘chaining’ or ‘cascading’ effect of talk in focus groups will be discussed.
The research, which these procedures are part of, is being conducted by a cross-disciplinary, cross-generational research team of faculty, staff and students. The study seeks to gain a clear appreciation of how iLearn is being used at AUS and to recognize the faculty members’ opinions and perceptions of the CMS iLearn.

Keywords:

Cross-disciplinary, focus group, course management systems, interviews, cascading.