Students' Perceptions of the Utilization of Learning Management System (LMS) Features: A Case Study of a Geology Course at KFUPM, Saudi Arabia

Utilization of the LMS in teaching is a very crucial and important issue. It will reflect on the students better learning and understanding of the subject. The current practices of student-centered learning (where students contribute to the subject and get involved in the learning process) can also be applied very effectively through using the LMS. This paper summarizes students' perceptions and point of view of utilizing LMS learning features and how important it is to their study and comprehension of the course subjects. The study was conducted on a geology graduate course (Advanced Structural Geology) taught in Earth Sciences Department, at KFUPM. Several features of the LMS were used, including e-mail, announcement, course content, and online discussion. A survey seeking students' perceptions of the utilization of the LMS in teaching was prepared and the learning measurement was determined through the level of satisfaction of students and how much the experiment added to their learning. The study showed that students are favoring the online discussion and considered it as a very effective tool that helped them in their understanding and comprehension of the course subject. Moreover, other features, such as email, announcement, and grade-book, were also of importance from the students' point of view as they enhance their contact with the instructor and provide them with feedback on their performance.