Factors influencing college students' use of distant learning systems: An empirical study in Taiwan

This study made an attempt to extend technology acceptance model (TAM) and presented a re-specified conceptual model to examine the factors affecting college students' use of distant learning systems. Here, an asynchronous web-based learning platform was employed to assist the learning of an undergraduate course, say, management information systems (MIS) in a well-known institute of technology in Taiwan. A cross-sectional survey was conducted. The partial least squares method was applied to validate the reliability and validity of the measurement model and assessed the proposed conceptual model in this study. The empirical results indicated that college students showed great readiness and positive intentions toward the use of such e-learning system in learning their professional course and experienced benefits from its use in the long term. The findings of this study not only can proffer practical implications for learning on-line professional course and teaching in the business education, but also may serve as instrumental guidelines for e-learning system to be effectively designed to raise students' interests and motivation in virtual learning environments.