Assessing the Acceptance of a Blended Learning University Course

Usefulness and ease of use proved to be key determinants of the acceptance and usage of e-learning. On the contrary, little is known about students' perceptions in a blended learning setting. In this paper, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was utilised, in order to investigate Greek university students' attitudes toward blended learning. The goal of the study was twofold. First, to investigate whether the students' perceptions in a blended learning setting were comparable with other studies reporting perceptions in the context of distant learning. Second, to investigate variation in students' perceptions before and after actual system use. A sample of 130 students before actual system use and 102 students after the end of the semester was used. As derived from the model analysis using partial least squares, the e-learning system was well accepted and the majority of our hypotheses were confirmed. The most notable difference between pre- and post-use scenario was that perceived usefulness did not prove to have a significant effect on behavioral intention before system use, whereas, in the end, it appeared to be significant. The results are compared with similar studies focused on e-learning acceptance. The implications, both for the designer of a blended learning course as well as for the educational community, are also discussed.