Reaching out: The student member adoption program

The current study aimed at measuring the efficiency of Blackboard in developing the collaborative and individual learning skills for Taibah University students. Moreover, it sought to unravel the differences (if any) in the effectiveness of the system in developing the above-mentioned skills according to the change of the user (student, staff member), gender (male, female), and the change of college to which the user belongs (scientific, humanitarian). The study adopted an analytical descriptive approach as it suits the nature of the study and its variables. Doing so, the researchers have built a learning tool which consists of two lists of e-learning skills; the first is for the individual e-learning skills and is divided into three main focuses including 45 paragraphs, and the second for the collaborative e-learning skills and is divided into three main focuses including 26 paragraphs. The study sample consisted of members of staff, students (males and females) distributed across colleges of Taibah University (n= 17). The study came up with some results of which the most significant were: the Blackboard’s efficiency in developing the individual e-learning skills for the students is high with an efficiency average of..... And its efficiency in developing the collaborative e-learning skills for the students is also high with an efficiency average of.. Which reflects the importance of integrating the electronic systems within the learning and teaching processes and underlines its positive role in achieving the quality learning at low cost and effort. In addition, the study came up with the absence of indicative differences statistically in developing the individual and collaborative e-learning skills as per the user's change (student - member staff), or per the gender’s change (male-female), or per the sort of college change to which the user belongs (scientific - humanitarian). The study recommends the conduct of periodic assessment processes for the system’s efficiency in developing students’ various learning skills and calls for conducting similar studies to determine the necessary technological requirements for developing Blackboard on the basis of the individual and collaborative e-learning skills.

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