Use of Learning Management System (LMS): A Study in a Brazilian

and Portuguese Universities

Roberta de Souza Leone

, Cristina Mesquita

and Rui Pedro Lopes

Food Department (DALIM), Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Brazil

Research Center in Basic Education, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Portugal

Research Center in Digitalization and Intelligent Robotics, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Portugal

Keywords: Learning Management System, b-Learning, e-Learning.

Abstract: Learning Management Systems (LMS) are mainly used as a didactic support for the presential classes.

However, because of the tools they provide, they are also essential to support b-learning and e-learning

process. Because of this, most universities rely on some LMS through many or all of the courses. This paper

describes a study performed in two different universities regarding the students’ perception about the

usefulness and the usability of two different LMS: Moodle and Sakai. Through a focus group, students shared

their opinion and discussed about their experience. In addition, data from the log of the platforms was also

analysed, to assess how teachers use the LMS tools. In general, it can be stated that when the teacher knows

how to use the LMS, students feel more comfortable using it and have a better learning experience. Regarding

the tools, teachers mostly rely on the repository of documents.

1 INTRODUCTION

The technological development has effects in many

areas of human development. Although usually

associated to Innovation and to the Information and

Communication, the impact on Education is both

significant and transversal, starting to be ubiquitous

both inside and outside of classes. The most prevalent

expression of technology is the digital mediation

between teachers, students and learning-experiences.

This mediation is performed through special-purpose

platforms, known as Virtual Learning Environments

(VLE), providing support to individual management

of learning experiences and activities (Georgouli,

2011).

VLE are also known by different terms, such as e-

learning, because it combines Information and

Communication Technologies (ICT) with learning

process, Course Management Systems (CMS), or

Learning Management Systems (LMS), the term we

will be using in this paper. In addition to supporting

file hosting in different formats, such as text, image,

sound, and others, they provide a broad set of tools,

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3444-1408

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4992-8614

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9170-5078

that can be used to facilitate interaction between

colleagues and lecturers. These can be synchronous,

asynchronous, individual or group, such as message

boards, forums, chat rooms, videoconferencing, etc.

(Sánchez & Hueros, 2010).

LMS provide a web-based user interface,

accessible anytime, anywhere through a conventional

web browser. Usually, each course will have a

specific area, with several tools at the teachers’ and

students’ disposal for managing interactions and

learning-experiences. These includes integrated

support for the creation, organization, delivery,

communication, collaboration, and evaluation of

activities and content.

Learning Management Systems are not exclusive

to e-learning environments. They have gained space

in traditional classroom, increasing flexibility by

providing individual areas for students and permanent

access to content and other learning experiences

(Kunnath, 2017). Moreover, they stand out among

today’s media for enabling collaborative learning,

interactivity and different forms of learning by

352

Leone, R., Mesquita, C. and Lopes, R.

Use of Learning Management System (LMS): A Study in a Brazilian and Portuguese Universities.

DOI: 10.5220/0009420203520358

In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2020) - Volume 2, pages 352-358

ISBN: 978-989-758-417-6

diversifying representations of the same content

(Lacerda & Silva, 2015).

LMSs are widely used as a “repository of files”

and few teachers explore their potential and didactic-

pedagogical possibilities (Tenório et al., 2019). In

turn, students reveal some common concerns such as:

when they should enroll in the course; if the

enrollment of the traditional class already guarantees

access to the LMS; which credentials to use to join

the LMS; about the activities and the deadline for

delivery; about the locations and times available for

access to the LMS; how to communicate with

teachers and how to deliver activities. These

questions reveal that there is a need for technical

guidance to start the process of using LMS. In

addition there is also evidence showing a demand for

specialized services that require permanent staff that

can provide technical support in production and

follow up of the e-learning courses offered (Seixas et

al., 2012).

By encouraging the use of these systems, it is

possible to use the LMS in another pedagogical

perspective, expanding the use of its tools for the

construction of knowledge. (Lacerda & Silva, 2015).

While pedagogical and discipline expertise are

considered the foundation of the teaching process,

interaction in online learning systems requires

additional communication and technological

competencies to achieve learning outcomes (Farhan

et al., 2019).

Particularly with e-learning, teachers can act as

course constructors and facilitators, guiding the

learner through their educational experiences. For

learners the opportunity to take advantage of

continuous learning through the use of free didactic

materials and interactions with peers, using a suitable

technological environment that enhances their

growth. (De Medio et al., 2020; Lopes & Mesquita,

2015).

The aim of this paper is to understand how

Learning Management Systems have been used in

higher education, through the analysis of two

different platforms (Moodle and Sakai) in two

different universities (on in Portugal and another in

Brazil). For that, a quantitative and qualitative

methodology was followed, supported by a focus

group and the historical log of the platforms’

usability.

2 METHODOLOGY

The methodology uses three instruments in a quanti-

qualitative approach. Data was thus collected with an

online, open-questions, questionnaire for teachers,

focus group for students and the numerical logs of the

LMS platforms was statistically analyzed. Two focus

group were organized, with students from Portugal

and the other with students from Brazil. The focus

group was recorded and transcribed and later

analyzed for category identification. A focus groups

was selected because students tend to discuss their

worries in group and provide a more natural

perception.

An open questions questionnaire was conducted

with teachers, to assess their opinion regarding the

use and importance of an LMS. This choice was also

intentional, because teachers tend to express better

their opinion without concerns or restrictions in this

way.

Finally, information from the usage record of the

platforms (logs) was also used, providing quantitative

information about user access and tools used. These

provide a measurement of the importance and

popularity of each tool in the learning process.

2.1 Focus Group with Students

For the collection of the perceptions of students

regarding the use of LMS, a Focus Group was

organized and structured, in order to develop more in-

depth description of students’ experiences. Students

were organized in two groups: one with 8 Brazilian

students from computer science, electronic

engineering, food engineering, environmental

engineering, chemistry engineering and bioprocess

engineering, and another with 11 Portuguese students

from business management, pre-school and

elementary education, computer engineering and

animal science technology. Students were randomly

selected and their participation optional. The students

that agreed to participate, were welcome and

participated in the Focus Group session.

The meetings were conducted by a moderator who

ensured that all students expressed their opinion. The

session was held in compliance with the Declaration

of Helsinki and had their audio recorded with the

permission of the participants for later transcription

of the comments (Bardin, 2015).

Eight primary questions were asked during the

focus groups (

Table 1), with follow-up questions to

probe for additional details as necessary.

Use of Learning Management System (LMS): A Study in a Brazilian and Portuguese Universities

353

Table 1: Focus Group Questions.

1. What tools do you know about the Virtual

Learning Environment?

2. Which tools are most useful and why?

3. Have you had any training to help you know

and use LMS? This will be important?

4. What do you like about using LMS?

5. What do you think of the user interface?

6. Can you list the good experiences you had using

LMS?

7. Can you list the bad experiences you had using

LMS?

8. If there are no face-to-face classes (totally at a

distance) what tools would you think would be

necessary to use?

2.2 Questionnaire with Teachers

An open-questions questionnaire was conducted with

Brazilian teachers, users of the LMS. The

questionnaire was composed of eight open questions,

available through Google Forms (

Table 2).

Table 2: Structure of the questionnaire.

1. What tools do you know about the LMS?

2. What tools do you use to create content and

learning experiences in LMS?

3. Have you had any training to help you know

and use LMS? This will be important?

4. What tools would you like to know better?

5. What are the biggest difficulties in using LMS?

6. Can you list the good experiences you had using

LMS?

7. Can you list the bad experiences you had using

LMS?

8. If there are no face-to-face classes (totally at a

distance) what kind of content and learning

experiences would you develop?

Six teachers responded in writing and their

answers was subjected to content analysis, according

to a rigorous qualitative methodology.

2.3 Historical Usage Data (Logs)

The use of LMS is ongoing, in the Portuguese higher

education institution for 6 years, now, and all the

records are kept since 2013. This historical data

registered in the LMSs’ log files was statistically

processed using analysis of variance and Tukey test

at 5% significance level.

3 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

The analysis process started with the definition of

virtual systems tools and analysis historical data.

Next, the results of focus group meetings are

describe. Finally, the perception of teachers are

presented.

3.1 Definition of LMS Tools

A Learning Management System provides a set of

tools with special purpose to support communication,

assessment, time-management and access to content.

Among the many tools, it is possible to identify the

most meaningful and available to the Brazilian and

Portuguese Higher Education Institution with their

respective functions (

Table 3).

Table 3: LMS Tools and Description.

Moodle (Brazil) Sakai (Portugal)

Announcements Announcements

Message delivery to the entire class, groups or class-

specific sections

File / Resources Resources

Allows books, articles, videos, and handouts to be

inserted by the teacher for students to download

Database

Students and teacher can place links, books, etc.

Drop Box

Create a folder for each student in the course. Teacher

and student can put files in folders

Folder

Used by teacher to organize study material

BigBlueBottonBM

Create classrooms from links

Calendar Calendar

Allows event publishing in calendar format

Chat Chat

Real time conversation. Synchronous

Forum Forum

Space for discussions between teacher and / or students

asynchronously

Messages Messages

To send message to colleagues and teacher

External Tool (LTI) External Tool (LTI)

Allows you to include tools that support the Basic

Learning Tools Interoperability

Workshop Tests & Quizzes

CSEDU 2020 - 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Education

354

Table 3: LMS Tools and Description (cont.).

Peer review (students evaluate peer tasks)

Lesson Tests & Quizzes

Content followed by question. Depending on the

answer, the student moves on or returns to the previous

content

Survey Tests & Quizzes

Evaluate and stimulate learning in online environments.

A teacher can use it to collect data from your students

that will help you learn about your class and reflect on

your own teaching

Quiz Tests & Quizzes

Tests, true or false questions, multiple choice and short

answers

Assignments Assignments

space to upload student assignments, text files,

spreadsheets, videos, images, etc.

Topics Lessons

Tool for organizing resources and activities. Teachers

can organize the course by module, week, unit, topic, or

any other grouping that makes sense

URL Web Content

Link provided by teacher for access to content available

on the web

Wiki Wiki

Collaborative content building space, similar to

Wikipedia

3.2 Historical Data (logs)

The log files collected from the LMS include

information about seven tools: Calendar,

Announcements, Resources, Assignments, Online

testes, Messages and Forums.

Figure 1 represents the

sum of the use of the tools from 2013 to 2019, in all

the curricular units offered in the period.

Figure 1: Number of accesses since 2013.

The Resources were used 633,099 times during

the evaluated period, being the most used tool by

teachers and students. This tool allows the teacher to

upload handouts for students to download. It is

possible to store files, books, articles, etc.

Messages, Assignments and Announcements

tools were used 141,909, 111,043 and 90,258 times,

respectively (

Figure 1).

Table 4 presents the average usage of each tool per

year and per curricular unit from 2013 to 2019. The

use of Resource tool increased over time, as shown in

Table 4. The average use of Resources in 2018/2019

was 38.30 times per course offered in the period.

Messages and Announcements had their use

decreased over time, while the use of the Assignments

tool had its peak in the year 2016/2017 with average

use of 14.40 times per course offered (

Table 4).

Table 4: Average* use of LMS tools from 2013 to 2019.

Year 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19

Calendar 0.6

0.8

0.9

1.0

1.2

Announce

ments

5.6

4.6

4.8

4.6

Resource 34.7

30.5

32.7

34.6

34.4

38.3

Assignme

nts

2.3

1.9

9.3

14.4

3.9

3.5

Online

tests

1.6

3.5

2.2

3.7

3.5

3.8

Message 9.7

7.0

6.9

7.5

7.9

7.2

Forums 0.08

0.01

0.03

0.13

0.50

* Means followed by the same letter on the same line do not

differ from each other at the 5% significance level.

Online tests have been used as often since the

system was launched, in 2013. The use of the

Calendar tool has decreased over time and the Forums

tool has been less used over the period but has

increased in use over time.

The number of curricular units per year where the

LMS was minimally used is shown in

Figure 2.

Minimum usage was considered when the sum of the

use of all tools ranged from zero to 20 times per

curricular unit.

Figure 2: Total curricular units offered and curricular units

with minimum use between 2013 and 2019.

16036

90258

633099

111043

56785

141909

2329

Calendar

Announcements

Resourses

Assingnments

Online tests

Messages

Forums

2889

3130

3122

3269

3091

3019

742

870

1168

1172

973

880

2013/2014

2014/2015

2015/2016

2016/2017

2017/2018

2018/2019

Minimum Total

Use of Learning Management System (LMS): A Study in a Brazilian and Portuguese Universities

355

The percentage of minimum use of the LMS, in

the curricular units offered between 2013 and 2019,

ranged from 26% to 37%. The tools used in these

course units were Messages, Resources and

Announcements.

3.3 Focus Group with Students

When asked which tools were known to them,

Portuguese students answered Resources, which they

use to obtain content material; Online tests;

Assignments, to submit all tasks; Calendar, as some

teachers post course information; and Messages,

where they can exchange messages with the teacher

and classmates. Brazilian students also identified the

Archive tool to download support material posted by

the teacher; Questionnaires and Assignments, used

for student evaluation; Message Box and Topics,

which refers to how the course content is organized

by the teacher.

Portuguese students considered the Resources,

Assignments and Messages tools to be the most

important, as they provide access to course content,

assign assignments for teacher evaluation, and

communicate with the teacher as needed. Brazilian

students listed the Online Testing tool as very

interesting. They mentioned that being able to receive

email alerts each time the teacher posts material is

very important. They do not have the habit of login in

periodically, preferring being notified instead.

Regarding initial guidance on using the systems,

Portuguese students said they attended a lecture or

received a tutorial on how to use the LMS and found

the use of the system to be quite intuitive. Brazilian

students reported that they did not receive any initial

instructions for using the LMS and found the system

unintuitive. Some students believe that it would not

be important to receive initial usage guidance if the

system were more intuitive. Others would like to have

received a tutorial. Asked what could be improved to

make it more intuitive, students responded that its

screen is very polluted, and that important

information is hidden. Besides that, the student needs

to register in each course, through a password given

by the subject teacher, because the LMS is not linked

to the academic system of the Brazilian university.

Portuguese students appreciate the Resources tool

and have exam results as soon as they finish their

Online tests. Brazilian students appreciate the

organization of subjects by content and the ease of

submitting an assignment to the teacher.

The good experiences of Portuguese students are

the ability to access the system from wherever you

are, just needing internet access, to be able to

exchange messages with colleagues and the teacher

and to be able to participate in exams if in the

impossibility of being physically present. For

Brazilian students, what provided good experiences

was the centralization of content and the organized

availability of support material for the discipline. One

student commented that the task submission system

works well and another student had a great experience

with online assessments because he knew about his

performance right after the quiz completion, realizing

how much he needed to achieve the average grade.

Everyone agreed that if the teacher knows how to use

the tool well, the student's experience in the system

will be better.

Portuguese students reported that they do not like

to respond to mandatory teacher assessment surveys,

an extension added by the university under the

mandatory law for teacher evaluation. If the student

does not respond, he loses access to other features of

the LMS, while the questionnaire is not finished.

Brazilian students reported that the system often goes

down. One student did not like the experience of

attending the non-classroom calculus discipline,

because the teacher put only text material in the files

and when there was a video class, it was of poor

quality. Other reports were misused by the teacher,

such as opening more than one send box for the same

assignment and not finding the file the student sent.

Both Portuguese and Brazilian students reported

that they do not use virtual systems to communicate

with teachers and classmates. When they want to talk

to the teacher, they use email, and when they want to

talk to classmates, they use social networks like

WhatsApp or Facebook. Portuguese students

understand the communication tools for use by the

teacher when they need to advise they have changed

the date or place of the class. Brazilian students

suggested that the teachers could open a chat, during

student hours, to answer the questions of those

students who are not present at the university.

Suggestions for improving the use of the

Portuguese university LMS were creating a specific

place for students to consult their grades, preparing

and standardizing the way teachers organize the

material available in Resources. Brazilian students

suggested that the academic system should be

integrated with the LMS.

Finally, when asked what would be needed in the

system, if there were no face-to-face classes,

Portuguese students said they would like to have

access to live or recorded video classes, with the

possibility of interaction with the teacher. They see it

as necessary to receive a tutorial on the main points

of the class to learn what to focus on, as well as a

CSEDU 2020 - 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Education

356

guide on how to operate the system to access content.

Another is the implement of templates and guidelines

for teachers to use the system. When the material is

organized, the student can better follow the course, as

it will not be in the classroom in the presence of the

teacher.

Brazilian students do not see the LMS as a

learning platform. Basically, they see it as a content

repository. If the course is structured like this, there is

no need for the teacher to put material in the system,

just indicate the book that students should read and

mark the day of assessment. They commented that the

platform is not prepared for this because it does not

have an online class tool (unaware of the

BigBlueBottonBM tool). They suggested hosting

video lessons on YouTube and sharing the link via the

LMS. One student suggested that the teacher use

games to motivate students to continue the course and

another student concluded that when the teacher used

the system tools well, he could learn more within the

virtual platform.

3.4 Questionnaire with the Teachers

Six teachers from the field of electronic engineering,

food engineering, environmental engineering,

mechanical engineering and computer science

answered a questionnaire with questions related to the

use of the LMS in their pedagogical practices. Only

one teacher mentioned that he does not use the LMS,

did not receive any training and considers it important

to have an initial training. When he tried to use the

LMS by himself, he was unsuccessful and found the

system unintuitive.

Of the teachers who use the system, two took a

basic training course and the rest stated that they

learned to use the system alone. The computer science

teacher thinks that it would not be important to take a

course to start using the system. Another teacher

stated that he would only be interested in taking a

course if the classes were divided into basic,

intermediate and advanced level, because he already

had basic knowledge of the tools.

The best-known tools for the teacher group are

Files, Database, Folder, Assignments and Forum. The

most commonly used tools are Files, Assignments

and Folder. Teachers would like to learn to use the

Lesson, BigBlueBottonBM and Workshop tools. The

tools teachers find necessary for a fully online course

are File (100 %); Forum and Folder (83 %);

Workshop, Lesson, Quiz and Assignments (67 %);

BigBlueBottonBM, Chat and Database (50 %).

When asked what they like most about using

Moodle, they mentioned using a quiz from a question

bank because students can get instant feedback.

Teachers appreciate the fact that the system allows

control over reception of Assignments so that they are

organized.

Regarding the good experiences in using Moodle,

the ease of making material available to students in a

private environment, the creation of a question bank,

setting dates for assignment delivery, content

archiving, asynchronous activity possibilities,

immediate feedback of test results and system

flexibility, were mentioned.

The difficulties encountered by teachers in using

the LMS were trying to upload a large ebook and fail

and unable to fix tasks directly, because system does

not allow to increase image size. All teachers

mentioned that the system interface is not intuitive.

If the course were entirely e-learning, teachers

believe that the material should be made available in

the form of recorded video lessons and some would

be delivered in real time using the BigBlueBottonBM

tool; hold Forums, Assignments, Quiz and Chats. But

more important than technology would be learning

how to build teaching practices using system tools.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Both the Portuguese and Brazilian universities LMS

have similar tools and are mostly used for teacher

material repository and student task upload. When the

teacher knows how to use the system, the student's

learning experience is better. How easy it is to follow

the course through the system depends on how

organized the materials are. The better organized, the

easier it is for students. Portuguese students are more

comfortable using the system than the Brazilian

students. In the Portuguese university, the use of LMS

is encouraged, as a mean of sharing of content and

information between students and teachers. In the

Brazilian university there are other tools that are used

for this purpose, besides the LMS. Both systems have

tools to deliver online courses, but the teacher must

have knowledge of how to apply teaching practices

using the tools to facilitate and motivate students to

adhere to learning.

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