Abstract:
Growth in student numbers and heavy teaching workloads may negatively influence the
quality of teaching and learning in higher education. Various strategies have been introduced
to try and address these concerns. One specific strategy involves the use of
learning management systems to enhance the interaction between students and academics.
The purpose of this article is to highlight student usage of a learning management
system in electrical engineering at an open distance learning institute in South
Africa, correlating it to the student’s academic achievement. The lack of 100% student
engagement suggests that not all students have access to the Internet. A relationship
was established between the pass rates of the modules and the student usage of the
learning management system and student support given via the learning management
system. Final grade results suggest that students who fully engaged with the learning
management system are more likely to succeed in an open distance learning
environment.
