Analysing the impact of e-learning technology on students’ engagement, attendance and performance

Abstract

In higher education, e-learning technology such as Blackboard (Bb) is widely used and has become a popular tool worldwide. It helps reduce the communication gap between students and tutors, without time and location constraints. The study of student engagement and the impact on performance is a key issue in higher educational research, so identifying how students use e-learning technology can help contribute to how to design e-learning materials that further support student engagement. This quantitative research study examined two undergraduate engineering modules. Utilising the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, the number of clicks students made on Bb was assessed against their classroom attendance, engagement with activities and their performance in the final grade in the module assessment. The outcomes contribute to the developing literature on students’ interaction with online learning, by providing an insight into the way students’ use of e-learning materials influences their performance in their studies.