Descriptive Network Modeling and Analysis for Investigating User Acceptance in a Learning Management System Context

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) play a significant role in educational technology. In this paper, we analyze different approaches in order to investigate the acceptance of an LMS. Utilizing questionnaire information structured on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), we apply descriptive network modeling and analysis complementing basic statistical analysis in order to identify specific patterns in the user data. We present the applied analysis methodology in detail, and demonstrate the connection to user modeling: here, descriptive statistics indicate student satisfaction with the usage (acceptance level) as a whole; network analysis indicates the level of variability w.r.t. the user questions, while specific patterns or motifs show the satisfaction levels for the different networks.