A behavioral approach to modeling Indian children's ability of adopting to e-learning environment

Abstract

E-Learning is making inroads into schools in India in a large scale. Making use of information and communication technology (ICT) for learning can be very effective in delivering education to masses and thereby bridging the educational divide. How far is e-learning suitable, feasible and acceptable to school children of developing country like India is a question that needs careful study. This paper reports an exploratory study of investigating a school student's perspective of acceptance of e-learning as a tool for supplementing school education. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to model influence of factors like individual preferences, computer-friendliness, perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness, attitudes and intentions - on usage or adoption of e-learning by children. Children's mental models were analysed for understanding their beliefs and feelings towards e-learning. The results show TAM to be partially effective tool in investigating children's behavioural intention towards using e-learning. It was observed that facilitating conditions directly and strongly affected e-learning usage while intention to use e-learning was not much influential in driving the e-learning usage.