EXPERIENCE OF USING THE BLACKBOARD LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN JAZAN UNIVERSITY

Students’ engagement in a traditional classroom setting has been occurring for so long with several traditional tools such as textbooks, lectures, video, and group activities. Nowadays, globally and locally connected classes are the target of advanced education intellects. The Learning Management System (LMS) has become a basic tool for all institutions of advanced education, and the main thrust in web-based learning. The significance of the learning management system is defined by its role in building up instructive and educational development, so it is considered the most significant new tool for e-learning. As per a report by the Educause Research Center of U.S higher education institutions, almost 100% of advanced training institutions have an LMS setup, the LMS is utilized by 85% of faculty members, 56% of faculty use it daily, 83% of undergraduate and postgraduate students use the LMS and 56% say they use it in most or all courses. Learning Management System (LMS) is now not only becoming a critical tool for most higher education institutions but is also being seen as a driving force in online learning. Blackboard Learning Management System is a technologically improved learning platform within the context of the e-learning and aimed to investigate the use of Blackboard for training, learning, and examination purposes. In turn, this study is designed to explore the efficient utilization and evaluation of the students’ academic performance and the use of a Learning Management System (LMS), Blackboard, among academics at Jazan University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The primary aim of this research is to investigate how the faculty employs the features and communication tools in an online learning management system to facilitate the students in learning practice and to engage them in the material at hand. Through the findings obtained, both the faculty and the administrators are expectedly able to develop the online learning environment more effectively. It is also expected that the findings of this study can be a significant stimulus for other higher learning institutions in the Kingdom and the rest of the world to use the Blackboard for improved academic performance.