Designing Learning Management System to Encourage ELearning Sustainability

Many universities have been employing Learning Management System (LMS) in their educational programs for many years. However, sustaining the e-learning environment has become a great challenge for these institutes. Although there was much research conducted to study the success factors of a LMS, understanding the impact of user interface, navigation and usability designs, which may affect the user experience in virtual learning environment, is equally important. It is suggested that during the design stage the instructor should plan and structure the resources to assure interactions that assist in the transfer of skills and knowledge. In addition we can use tools such as email, chat rooms, and discussion boards to provide learners the opportunities to interact and add a new level of depth into their learning. It is also necessary to conduct a complete series of evaluations for testing the accuracy, effectiveness and clarity of the e-learning system. Therefore this research aims to evaluate the effectiveness and clarity of LMS design to encourage e-learning sustainability. We investigate the effectiveness of the LMS in assisting knowledge transfer and interactivity in the virtual learning environment, based on three areas: navigation design, user interface design and usability of the discussion board. An online questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from students and instructors regarding their experiences with the LMS, and their satisfaction levels in these three areas, as well as to suggest areas of improvements.