Readiness for" Social Learning Management System"(Social LMS) in Sri Lankan Universities: A case study research based on the students' perspectives.

Abstract

Paper discusses the readiness for the Social Learning Management System in Sri Lankan Universities. The main objective of the study, was to identify the factors to be reconsidered in the existing Learning Management Systems. This is a multiple case study research based on two universities in Sri Lanka. Undergraduate students in the University of Colombo and the University of Moratuwa were included in the population and the sample method employed for the data collection in this research was Stratified Purposive Sampling. Learning Management System has become a support system of vital importance in higher education. Social Learning Management System is formed because of the Collaborative Learning methods in an online learning environment. The findings reveal that the willingness of undergraduate students to work in the social network environment for learning and grouping. The Social Learning Management System is a new concept and it has not yet been initiated in universities in Sri Lanka. The students’ responses have indirectly shown the importance of 'Social LMS'. That is, they have been explaining the features of 'Social LMS' in their responses. They have discussed the functionality of ‘Social LMS’ pointing out the lack of collaborative learning environment of existing LMS. The research has discovered that students already possess the mental and knowledge readiness towards the building of Social Learning Management System in Universities of Sri Lanka.