The effect of human-computer interaction (HCI) factors on students' e-learning acceptance and success during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of human-computer interaction (HCI) factors on the ease of use and usefulness of e-learning and their success (SS) at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, to investigate if students' activities on systems moderate the relationship between the main constructs in the proposed model called "e-LASS," which goes beyond technology adoption, and to explore non-linear relationships between these constructs. Moreover, this study proposes a comprehensive model called "e-LASS2," integrating the main (Technology Acceptance Model- TAM) factors included in e-LASS and a unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) factors. To answer the questions that addressed these relations in the first and second parts, the researcher surveyed 103 students from Kadir Has University whose grade and activity logs were accessible, while the data related to the third part were collected via an online survey conducted on 232 students utilizing the Khas Learn system of Kadir Has University in Turkey. The results of the first and second parts show that most of the hypotheses have been proven, three comprehensive conceptual models were developed, the grades in the online courses improved students’ GPA, and the logs moderate the effects of HCI on TAM which together explained 54.9% of the variance in SS (student success), usefulness is the strongest determinant of SS, and non-linear models (cubic, quadratic, logarithmic, and s-curve) performed better in the description for the correlations when compared to linear models. The findings of the integrative approach in the third part reveal that the main predictors of students' success are behavior intention, ease of use, usefulness, visual design, and learner interface interactivity which explained 53.6% of perceived success in using the system.