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E-Learning is a Social Tool for E-Commerce at Tertiary Institutions 173
Respondents to the questionnaire indicated the most effectively used technology-enhanced
e-learning tools were the assignment and quiz tools. The following
common attributes between the most effectively used e-learning tools indicated by
respondents are:
• Assessment
• Feedback
• Direct contribution by facilitator
• Passive interaction
The technology-enhanced e-learning tools ranked as being the least effectively
used were chat rooms, bulletin boards and e-mail. Taylor (2002) pointed out that
the asynchronous and synchronous tools mostly used in technology-delivered elearning
are chat rooms, bulletin boards and e-mail. The results of this study clearly
show and support Taylor that the tools being effectively used within a technologyenhanced
e-learning environment will differ from those within a technologydelivered
e-learning environment.
A distinct attribute of chat rooms, which were the least effectively being used
from all e-learning tools, are interactive interaction whereas the assignment tool,
which were the most effectively being used from all e-learning tools, have passive
interaction.
CONCLUSION
Most first-year information technology and financial Information Systems
students perceive communication and interaction among themselves and facilitators
to be of importance. Although e-learning contribute to the increase of their
workload, they perceive learning to be more fun and of a better quality within the
technology-enhanced e-learning environment.
Students perceive communication tools such as e-mail, chat rooms and bulletin
boards as not being used effectively within technology-enhanced e-learning
environments. However this study has highlighted that communication and interaction
are important to the learning process, therefore the appropriate communication
tools should be used more effectively within a technology-enhanced environment.
This study has also highlighted those passive e-learning technologies (e.g., assignment
tools, quizzes and download tools) are being more effectively used than
interactive e-learning technologies (e.g., chat rooms, e-mail and bulletin boards).
Further work is needed to provide a technology-enhanced e-learning environment
that will ensure quality and high performance learning and teaching experiences
for both learners and facilitators. To insure that technology-enhanced e-
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