Author(s)

Sara Essam, Jaflah Al-Ammary

Department of Information Systems, College of IT, University of Bahrain, Sakhir, Kingdom of Bahrain.

E-learning can be considered as a useful tool for enhancing the quality of the educational process. However, the success of any technology application is dependent on how good it would satisfy the needs of its key stockholders, who compose the constituency of an organization and address their concerns. In the context of e-learning, students are the main stakeholders. Therefore, there is an emergent need to understand the factors that influence the use of e-learning to satisfy the students and improve their learning. The main aim of the current study is to investigate the factors that affect the use of e-learning by the postgraduate students at the Arab Open University. Factors such as motivation and social interaction were selected to be potential factors for using e-learning. Moreover, the effect of e-learning on the students’ perceived satisfaction and performance was examined. The study sample is comprised of postgraduate students enrolled in the AOU—the Kingdom of Bahrain branch. One hundred and fifty surveys were distributed both in person and as a web survey. The results provide a great indication about the use of e-learning at the KingdomofBahrain. Results on the research model and hypotheses show that motivation is the main factor that has the most significant impact on using e-learning at the AOU, followed by student-student interaction. Student-instructor interaction has shown to have an indirect impact on e-learning via motivation.

Arab Open University; E-Learning; Motivation; Student-Student Interaction; Student-Instructor Interaction; Student’s Perceived Satisfaction; Students’ Performance

Essam, S. & Al-Ammary, J. (2013). The Impact of Motivation and Social Interaction on the E-Learning at Arab Open University, Kingdom of Bahrain. Creative Education, 4, 21-28. doi: 10.4236/ce.2013.410A004.