Intro Blackboard 132d42

In this fast paced modern world, technological surge has brought about many inventions. One such invention in the world of technology is the Virtual Learning Environment(VLE). With just a click of the mouse VLEs have made it possible for students to experience an inclassroom experience online (Marchewka & Liu 2007).The Blackboard group says that even educators this technology as it helps students progress beyond the barriers of the classroom. Dillenbourg et al.(2002) emphasise that VLEs are designed to communicate with the students in both formal and informal ways. It also lets the tutors and students stay connected even in the absence of physical presence. VLE creates integration and takes it to a whole new level of pedagogical learning . VLEs4VET cited Professor Stephen Heppell who wrote in his forward: “Learning is breaking out of the narrow boxes that it was trapped in during the 20th century; teachers’ professionalism, reflection and ingenuity are leading learning to places that genuinely excite this new generation of connected young school students - and their teachers too. VLEs are helping to make sure that their learning is not confined to a particular building, or restricted to any single location or moment”. West et al.(2005) says that there are a number of soft wares that offer this technology for example, Desire2learn, ecollege and Jenzabar. But, today our research is based on the software called Blackboard. Blackboard was founded in the year 1997 by two education consultants in association with the faculty at Cornell University as indicated in the evaluation by West et al.(2005). The official Blackboard website acknowledges, from then till now it has improved a lot, and made itself the leading revenue generating software in virtual learning. Blackboard is a VLE which is used throughout the world. This software not only concentrates on improving the student's education experience but also brings down the costs associated with the traditional book and pen teaching method. It also makes life easier for the tutors by providing various ease to access services. The secret behind the success of this software is the wide variety of solutions offered by it to the students as well as tutors. Blackboard gives instant access to the course content, it also has a online discussion board. With blackboard assessment submissions become much more easier and students progress can be tracked easily. It easy navigation techniques adds on the advantage that it has over other VLEs. The services offered by this tool are not only limited to the field of education but also spreads across to military, organizations , government and even associations. In this research we would like to focus on blackboard as it is predicted to be the future of virtual learning (Marchewka & Liu 2007).The aim of this research is to understand the students perception towards using a VLE, Blackboard. Our research focuses on the use of Blackboard, which has been adopted across various universities in the United Kingdom. It also evaluates how different determinants like Performance expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence and Facilitating conditions and students attitude towards using technology, affect the students perception of using Blackboard. This research also measures the extent of this influence and includes collection of numerical data in order to substantiate the hypotheses.