Tecnologia de informação para apoio ao ensino superior: O uso da ferramenta moodle por professores de ciências contábeis

Abstract

The aim of this research is to identify and assess the main features seen in the use of Moodle technological innovation, taking into account the aspects that may contribute to its adoption as a tool to support teachers in higher education in Accounting courses. The study on the adoption of Moodle was based on the Diffusion Theory, which asserts the existence of characteristics or attributes that directly affect the adoption of technological innovations. The study sample consisted of 31 professors of the undergraduate course in Accounting at the University (“Omega”) of Sao Paulo, which has about 35,000 students. The collected data were analyzed by means of Structural Equation Modeling, the Partial Least Square (PLS) technique and smartPLS® software. The results indicate that Experimentation, Usability and Voluntary Use of the tool were regarded as determinants of the adoption of Moodle. Its noticeable improvement extends to services, to teaching-learning processes and to professor-student interaction when accessing knowledge and information. Such improvements, in the view of professors, were difficult to provide before the adoption of Moodle.