Managing learning outcomes with technology in Ghanaian higher education

Abstract The Internet and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in general have significantly transformed the world’s economy and social landscape, enhancing the lives of individuals, promoting business growth, and stimulating economic development. Not having access to the Internet and the appropriate technology comes with a high probability of constrained prospects of quality education, social mobility, employment opportunities, and other factors related to quality of life. This research used a concurrent mixed-method inquiry to explore the effects of digitalization on learning outcomes with a digital learning management platform (Sakai). University of Ghana was selected purposively because the university has been employing the use of Sakai LMS as a tool for teaching and learning since 2014. Two hundred and thirty students (230) at Level 100 in the Adult Education program of the University were chosen as participants for the quantitative survey (n = 230) and 10 students were randomly selected from the 230 to participate in an in-depth interview (n = 10). The study utilized both questionnaires and interviews for data collection. Whereas the quantitative data were analysed using inferential statistics, the qualitative data were analysed via content and thematic approaches. The study found that Sakai as a learning tool enhanced students’ participation in discussion forums and online chats that enhanced the learning process through the sharing of ideas and course resources with one another.


PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
This paper seeks to explore the effectiveness of SAKAI LMS, an educational technology in enhancing student learning outcomes and the different ways in which it can be employed to achieve this goal.Educational technology offers numerous advantages over traditional teaching methods, including increased engagement, personalized learning, and the ability to track and monitor student progress.By leveraging technology, educators can tailor their approach to individual student needs and provide more meaningful feedback.This has the potential to result in higher student achievement and overall better learning outcomes.However, the implementation of educational technology requires careful planning and consideration.The paper provides valuable insights into how educational technology such as Sakai LMS can be used to manage student learning outcomes effectively.It is hoped that the findings presented will be useful to educators and policymakers who seek to enhance the quality of education through the use of technology.
the qualitative data were analysed via content and thematic approaches.The study found that Sakai as a learning tool enhanced students' participation in discussion forums and online chats that enhanced the learning process through the sharing of ideas and course resources with one another.

Introduction
The Internet and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in general have significantly transformed the world's economy and social landscape, enhancing the lives of individuals, promoting business growth, and stimulating economic development.Not having access to the internet and the appropriate technology comes with a high probability of constrained prospects of quality education, social mobility, employment opportunities, and other factors related to quality of life.
The importance of ICTs in education has been closely linked to the changing meaning of literacy: yesterday's literate person was a person who could write a letter, report, or an essay; today's literate person is one who can write an email, make a PowerPoint presentation, and write a blog post but tomorrow's literate person would be one who can work in a virtual community and apply computational thinking, creativity, and innovative mindset to find practical solutions to real-life problems.Thus, educational institutions must be positioned to adapt quickly, leverage technology and deliver education in new ways to prepare for the future.It was against this background that the University of Ghana adopted the use of the Sakai Learning Management System (LMS) in 2014 to encourage faculty and students to upscale the integration of technology in research, teaching, and learning.
The purpose of the study was to explore students' perception on the efficacy of the Sakai Learning Management System (LMS) for teaching and learning at the University of Ghana.Learning Management System (LMS) refers to both software applications and web-based technologies that are used by faculty and students to access, plan, implement, supplement, monitor, and/ or assess learning or to communicate about learning.Coates observed that an LMS is a software package that enables the management and delivery of online content to learners.Douglamas and Taylor likewise revealed that, LMS is a software application or web-based technology used to plan, implement, and assess specific learning process.According to Almrashdeh et al. (2011), there are different types of LMS in the market, including commercial or proprietary such as the Blackboard and free or open-source software such as Sakai or MOODLE dwelling on the functionality of an LMS.Rapuano (2006) noted that an LMS may be used to manage and allocate learning resources such as registration, instructor availability, instructional material fulfillment, and online learning delivery.LMS also focuses on the management and distribution of learning materials, synchronous and asynchronous communication, and progress tracking and reporting.Thus, LMS plays a significant role in supporting and complementing traditional pedagogies used in the classroom environments.Student usage of the Sakai LMS at the University of Ghana is characterized by a few activities including, logging onto the system, accessing the learning materials resource, downloading a resource, accessing assignment, uploading an assignment, participating in a self-assessment, and posting a comment in a discussion forum or in the chat room.However, Kirschner et al. (2004), argued that the mere fact that content is always available for students to download does not improve learning in any way.Provision of effective support and technological infrastructure, according to Karaman et al. (2013), is as vital as the quality of teaching for online learners as the lack of technical and student support decreases learning motivation.Therefore, the need to provide regular, effective student support through the LMS in addition to the access to content cannot be overemphasized.However, the use of LMS everywhere comes with several challenges including high startup costs for both hardware and software as well as staffing and training.
As such, higher-order questions such as evaluate, analyze, and design may be replaced with lower-order questions such as define, select, and identify, which would not promote critical thinking and deep learning.For example, when instructors post learning resources online but fail to provide guidelines on what students should do with these resources, appropriate learning outcomes are not achieved through the use the Sakai LMS.In other instances, the critics have raised issues about instructors posting assignments and quizzes but failing to provide feedback to students.This observation is also in line with findings that academics face challenges in the use of existing tools in LMS in pedagogically sound ways to enable them to take advantage of the online medium's affordances (Vrasidas, 2004).
Sakai is a flexible, open-source LMS that supports teaching and learning that is grounded in collaboration, co-creating, and open sharing of knowledge.The key features of Sakai for faculty are flexibility to incorporate a wide variety of learning tools and technology-enabled instructional approaches; for students, Sakai encourages team-based learning, flipped classrooms, and other modes of instruction that engage students actively and deeply in the learning process; and for the institution, Sakai provides a sense of community, prestige, and quality assurance.
The use of LMS in education for teaching and learning plays a key role in the effectiveness of content delivery to students in higher education and to the experiences of people-students, faculty, and administrators in the academic spaces.The use of LMS therefore has implications for productivity and learning.Apart from electrical power and internet bandwidth, capacity development-training and professional development of faculty, the fourth most important hindrance to the pervasive adoption of educational technology in the classrooms in developing world including Ghana is that of negative perceptions of faculty (especially senior faculty) and students who has been brought up in a world with limited technology and find it difficult to fully embrace the new change where technology is largely used to engage and support teaching and learning.
Because such senior faculty are involved in decision-making in the educational institutions in the African context, it is important that, whatever training and professional development opportunities that are provided to faculty must be long enough for them to grasp the concepts behind teaching with technology, to have hands-on experience using the technology, and to practice or develop their capacity to a level that can enable them practice their new skills successfully and overcome any negative perceptions tendencies when they return to their classroom or online environment.Studies such as this one are essential to prove to faculty and students that the benefits of technology use for education and for that matter the employment of the Sakai LMS is even in the African context and not limited to the western world where the use of such technologies are quite pervasive and much written about.
In the contemporary world, technology has become a major tool for managing learning outcomes.Technology-based learning tools have the potential to improve student engagement, facilitate more personalized learning, and improve the accuracy of assessment.Technologybased tools also provide students with access to a wide range of instructional materials that are available around the clock, allowing students to learn at their own pace.Studies in this area have contributed to the literature by demonstrating the effectiveness of technology-based tools in supporting learning outcomes.Studies have shown that technology-based learning tools can be used to deliver personalized instruction that is tailored to individual learners (Walkington & Bernacki, 2020).These learning tools have also been used to facilitate a more accurate assessment of learning outcomes.Additionally, technology-based assessment tools can be used to collect data in real-time and provide more detailed data analysis.Overall, studies in this area have demonstrated the potential of technology-based tools to support learning outcomes.As technology continues to evolve, there are calls for further studies to explore how these tools facilitate personalized learning.This is one of the research kinds that investigates this situation.
Research questions asked are as follows: Does course instruction taking place through the mediation of the Sakai LMS facilitate students' engagement for effective learning?How may students' academic experiences be enhanced and by so doing provide them a sense of community in their online learning with the Sakai LMS.Are students satisfied with feedback from their instructors to make their learning more effective?Does the instructor employ efficient tools that are designed to make teaching and learning interactive and effective?What elements must be present and what should the instructor do to make the Sakai LMS benefit students in their learning?
2. Literature review Cope and Kalantzis (2016) posit that digital communities can be used to facilitate learning.They argue that digital communities can provide learners with the opportunity to share and create knowledge, collaborate on projects, and provide support and feedback to one another.They also suggest that digital communities provide a space for learners to connect and engage with peers from diverse backgrounds and cultures.In a recent study by Nikou and Maslov (2021), it was found that the most important success factors in e-learning are learner motivation, instructor support, pedagogical design, learner engagement, and technological infrastructure.They also identified several other factors, such as collaboration and communication, learner readiness, and learner feedback that have had an impact on e-learning success.Additionally, Noesgaard and Ørngreen (2015) found that e-learning can improve learning outcomes by providing students with more flexibility, access to information and resources, and increased opportunities for collaboration.They also found that e-learning can be more effective than traditional classroom instruction if it is designed around the needs of the learners and that it is important for instructors to provide adequate support and guidance.
Studies have indicated that blended learning is evident in the continuum support in managing learning outcomes.According to Wenger and Ferguson blended learning could be an effective approach to learning, as it combines the strengths of traditional face-to-face instruction with the flexibility and convenience of online learning.They argued that blended learning could help learners to acquire and retain knowledge more effectively, as it allows them to learn at their own pace and in a variety of different contexts.Furthermore, they suggested that blended learning could offer more personalized learning experiences and enable learners to develop deeper connections with the material due to its interactive nature.

Theoretical framework
This paper is situated in the community of inquiry framework that defines a good e-learning environment through three major components of cognitive presence (interaction with content), social presence (interaction among students) and teaching presence (interaction with instructors) as a representation of how all three work to support online learning.The functions and relationships of the various components are explained by Figure 1.
(1) Cognitive presence is the extent to which the participants in any configuration of a community of inquiry can construct meaning through sustained communication (Garrison, Randy, Anderson & Acher, 2001).
(2) Social presence is the ability of learners to project their personal characteristics into the community of inquiry, thereby presenting themselves as "real people" (Rourke et al., 2001).
(3) Teaching presence is defined as the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realizing personally meaningful and educational worthwhile learning outcomes (Anderson et al., 2001).
According to Garrison and Anderson (2003, p. 23), a critical community of learners, from an educational perspective, is composed of teachers and students transacting with the specific purposes of facilitating, constructing, and validating understanding and of developing capabilities that will lead to further learning.Such a community encourages cognitive independence and social interdependence.Figure 1 shows the model of which the study is situated.Shank (1998) showed that having access to enormous amount of information did not necessarily translate into learning.Bork, for his part, argued that many computer-based educational offerings provided poor learning opportunities.Janicki and Liegle (2001), developed a list of 10 concepts from literature that supports the effective design of web-based instruction.These are instructors acting as facilitators, use of variety of presentation styles, multiple exercises, hands-on problems, learner control pacing, frequent testing, clear feedback provision, consistent layout, clear navigation, and available help screens.Swan (2001) noted that while these principles in the effective design of web-based instruction are reasonably well accepted, it remained to be proven whether they could be applied to online courses.

Students' interactions
According to Wells (1992), courses that involve discussion, brainstorming, and reflection are best suited to the online format.Swan et al. (2000) supported this view by asserting that interactions among students through course discussions seem to be one of the most influential features of online courses.Levin et al. similarly observed that, students perceived online discussion as more equitable and more democratic than traditional classroom discussion.Ruberg et al. (1996) also found that, computer-mediated communication encouraged experimentation, sharing of ideas, collaborative thinking, as well as increased and more distributed participation.However, we are reminded that computer-mediated communication is not inherently interactive, but depends on the frequency, timeliness, and nature of the messages posted (Eastmond, 1995).

Interactions with instructors
Coppola et al. argued that in any environment, instructors have three roles, namely cognitive, affective, and managerial.The authors established that in an online environment, the cognitive role shifts to a deeper complexity, while the affective role requires the instructor to find new tools to express emotion and the managerial role requires greater attention to detail, more structure, and monitoring students.Extending further, Coppola et al. introduced concepts such as "teaching presence" detailing direct instruction, facilitation of discourse and design and organization.Other researchers such as Fuller et al. (2000) compared teaching tendencies and styles to instructor effectiveness and satisfaction in online environments, identifying four challenging issues as overcoming the faceless classroom, adapting to student-centered teaching, managing time and techniques, and establishing the learning community.

Self-directed learning
Recent literature suggests that technology-mediated learning can be enhanced in so many ways.According to Al-Adwan et al. (2021), studies need to focus on determining a holistic success model for sustainable e-learning.The elements of the holistic success model, such as learner satisfaction, learning resources, and learning effectiveness, are critical components of successful e-learning.Also, it is established that the relationship between learner satisfaction, learning resources, and learning effectiveness is mediated by technology, pedagogy, and design (Al-Adwan et al., 2021).Al-Adwan et al. ( 2022) intimated that self-directed learning is a strong predictor of the adoption and successful use of e-learning systems.Studies have shown that a positive correlation exists between technology, pedagogy, and design and learner satisfaction, learning resources, and learning effectiveness (Naveh et al., 2012).Also, Al-Adwan et al. ( 2022) adds that the engagement with e-learning systems is enhanced by self-directed learning.Self-directed learning can lead to improved learning outcomes in the use of e-learning systems.The adoption of e-learning systems is dependent upon the user's ability to self-direct their learning.The use of e-learning systems can lead to increased student engagement.It is recommended that a holistic success model for sustainable e-learning can be improved by identifying the optimal combinations of technology, pedagogy, and design.This model can be used to create an effective and successful e-learning environment.

Methodology
The study employed the mixed-methods approach and relied, specifically, on the concurrent design.The University of Ghana was selected based on the expert purposive technique because it was the only higher education institution in Ghana delivering instruction through the Sakai LMS.
The population of the study for this research were all level 100 students in the adult education programme who began their study in the university.Since these were fresh students, it is believed their experiences with at the first use of the technology will provide good information to this study.A total of 230 students were selected via the accidental sampling technique and completed a survey questionnaire.This technique was used because it provided a unique and cost-effective method of data collection.Researchers did not have control over the selection sample, level 100 students who were at their reach and were ready to be included in the study were selected.Additionally, 10 students were randomly selected from the 230 to participate in-depth interviews (n = 10).Out of the 230 students, 110 were males (48%) and 120 (52%) were females.
The survey questionnaire contained a list of statements regarding expected factors, concerns, and issues likely to influence the efficacy of the Sakai LMS as a medium for teaching the undergraduate first-year level 100 course (Introduction to Community Education and Development).
It is to be noted that the efficacy of the Sakai LMS as a medium for teaching and learning was dependent on the interactions between course content and students and the instructor and among students.The statements were meant to assess the level of well-being in terms of respondents' position (the extent to which they agree that statements about content interactions, interactions among students and interactions with the instructor were true) to make the use of the Sakai LMS effective for teaching and learning in the undergraduate course.Study participants rated their attitude and perceptions about the survey statements using a 5-point Likert scale where responses were categorized as Strongly Agree, Agree, Uncertain, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree.A total of 29 statements (Table 1) put into two groups of 15 and 14 statements were administered.The category with 15 statements (Table 1, statements 1 to 15) was intended to access the interactions with the course content, while the other with 14 (Table 1, statements 16 to 29) statements was intended to access interactions among students and with the instructor.Three items from the initial 32 were removed and so a total of 29 statements was eventually used to access the issues of interest.
Conducting a reliability analysis with Cronbach's Alpha, we assess the effectiveness of Sakai LMS for teaching and learning by examiningcorrelations among key factors such as content, student  The data for all negatively worded statements were removed before analysis.Three statements were removed from the initial total of 32 statements (specifically from the second set of 17 statements to become 14 statements and a total of 29 statements) because of low Cronbach α below .5.
interactions and instructor interactions (Chen & Popovich, 2002).A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) data reduction technique was employed (Jolliffe, 2002).Using the PCA (Varimax rotation and Kaizer normalization), one can identify various statements that constitute as comparatively independent subsets of content.The PCA methodology assumes that a particular subset of latent variables, smaller in number than the original number of statements, are responsible for and representative of the co-variation among the responses (Jolliffe, 2002).
A total of 29 statements (items) were used (see Table 1).The number of students in the class was 230 and all of them responded to the questionnaire.We conducted reliability analyses (using Cronbach's α) to ascertain the internal consistency of the scale for preference for mediums regarding student-instructor interactions.A Cronbach's α value of 0.7 or higher indicated a very reliable scale.To extract the specific constituents of students' perception/preference for the mediums used for student-instructor interactions, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) data reduction technique was used (Jolliffe, 2002).

Descriptive of results
To obtain reliable results, it is highly recommended that the minimum sample for analysis be 100 or five times the number of variables to be analyzed (Jolliffe, 2002).Therefore, with our sample size of 230 and 29 items on the questionnaire, the sample size criteria for PCA are met.Using a PCA (for this study-Varimax Rotation and Kaiser Normalization), we were able to identify various statements that constitute as comparatively independent subsets of content.Components were extracted based on eigenvalues greater than 1.PCA methodology of analyses presupposes that a particular subset of latent variables, smaller in number than the initial number of statements, are responsible for and representative of the co-variation among the responses.To competently analyze the components of students' perceptions about the efficacy of the Sakai LMS as a medium for teaching and learning at the University of Ghana using the PCA, each component identified is carefully labeled based on the statements it embodies.
According to Shaw (2003), principal component analysis (PCA) is a statistical procedure that uses an orthogonal transformation to convert a set of observations of correlated variables into a set of values of linearly uncorrelated variables called principal components.The transformation is defined in such a way that the first principal component has the largest possible variance accounting for as much of the variability in the data as possible and each succeeding component in turn has the highest variance possible under the constraint that it is orthogonal to the preceding components.The resulting vectors are an uncorrelated orthogonal basis set.PCA results are usually discussed in terms of component scores often referred to as factor scores (the transformed variable values corresponding to a particular datapoint) and loadings that is the weight by which each standardized original variable should be multiplied to get the component score.
To efficiently analyze what constitutes the efficacy of the Sakai LMS as a medium for effective undergraduate level 100 teaching and learning, each component identified was carefully labeled based on the statements it encompassed.The in-depth interview of the 11 respondents (10 students and an instructor) served as a means for validating the interpretation of the PCA.
To generate the qualitative data to aid the interpretation of the survey data, in-depth interviews were also conducted with 10 students who were part of the survey.The interview tool had semistructured open-ended items.The interviews were conducted through direct face-to-face contacts and on an individual basis.The tool had two sections ("A" and "B").Section "A" had five items eliciting data on demographic details of the participants.Section "B" also composed of seven semistructured open-ended questions had seven items (see Appendix 1).In framing the questions, we were guided by the views of scholars with specific interests in LMS.Each interview session had a duration of 30 minutes.To ensure rigour and trustworthiness of the interview tool, audit trail, reflexivity, respondents' feedback, and peer debriefing were conducted.Ethical standards were met by obtaining ethical clearance from the Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID) of the University of Ghana.Because we wanted to conceal the identities of interview participants, the data were coded and reported anonymously.
Twenty-nine statements in the survey were used to examine the constituents in the efficacy of the Sakai LMS for teaching and learning in an Undergraduate Course at the University of Ghana.All statements reliably measured the efficacy of the Sakai LMS for teaching and learning in the undergraduate course.
From Table 1 statements 1 to 15, 15 (15) survey items were used to measure student interactions with the course content on a Likert scale 1-5.Of these, students rated the items, with means ranging from 2.8 to 3.6.Any mean rated above 2.5 was considered an expression of a positive attitude or opinion about the issues under discussion.The item rated lowest (mean: 2.8) was accessing an audio, video recording of lectures was successful for most of the time.The item rated highest (mean: 3.6) was the content was engaging (had right visual appeal, color, font size).
Table 1 displays the descriptive statistics and the reliability analysis for each of the survey items used.The results indicate that, the relative contributions of the survey items to the total variance are largely distributed among different factors.The PCA shows that responses to the ability of the Sakai LMS to promote interactions with the course content are best described by two different sets of components: one consisting of three components (mapping of each response to a component showing at Table 2) and the other consisting of two components (mapping of each response to a component showing at Table 4).These three components account for 64.46% as summarized in Table 3.The three components are consolidated into three component descriptors and one major theme as interactivity with course content (Table 3).Figure 2 shows the scree plot of how the Sakai LMS enhances course content interactivity.
The second PCA shows that responses regarding Sakai LMS ability to enhance interactions among students' and between students and the instructor are best described by two components (the mapping of each response to a component is shown in Table 4).The two components account for 66% of the variance as summarized in Table 5 and it is further consolidated into two separate component descriptors and two separate themes as interactions among students' and interaction with the instructor.Figure 3 shows the scree plot of how Sakai LMS enhances interaction among students and with the instructor.

Qualitative responses
The study participants demonstrated a positive attitude towards Sakai LMS in enhancing their interactions with the course content.However, they pointed out to some challenges.For instance, a male student had this to say. . . . the video streaming application helped to eliminate most problems that we had assessing course content.The audio and video contents were delivered in formats that suited the devices in use by the students.We did have problems though, when the internet connection was slow or unavailable because of power outage.A female student made this contribution, . . .course related video and audio were delivered through the web/Sakai LMS and U-tube.There were other resources that were helpful for the out-of-class review and learning of those study materials.

Discussion
In line with the theoretical framework adopted for the study and in the light of the study findings, three main themes emerged as constituents of students' and their instructor's perception of the Sakai LMS's efficacy for teaching and learning.These were (1) perceived interactivity between the students and the course content ,(2) perceived interactivity between students and the instructor, and (3) perceived interactivity among students.

Perceived interactivity between students and the course content
The questionnaire included items about the quality of the learning environment and content as offered by the Sakai LMS.From the theme about the Sakai LMS's ability to enhance students' interaction with course content (course content interactivity with students) emerged three sub-themes as follows: "Perceived student success in accessing learning resources (sub-theme 1)" "Perceived design friendliness of the Sakai LMS facilitating ease of use (sub-theme 2)" and "Perceived ability of the Sakai LMS to enhance students" engagement with course content (sub-theme 3)' Table 3. Sub-themes 1, 2, and 3 accounted for 31%, 22%, and 12%, respectively, of the variances explaining Sakai LMS's ability to enhance interaction with course content.The Sakai LMS enhanced students' participation in discussion forums and online chats that enhanced the learning process through the sharing of ideas and course resources with one another.rating assigned by students completing the survey items for the item descriptor 'Sakai features ensured effective communication among students.The item rated highest with a mean of 3.7 on Likert's scale was the item with description "common interactive tools facilitated effective interactions among students" Two components (PC1 and PC2) resulting from the PCA analysis produced two themes "student to student interactions" and 'student to instructor interactions Table 4. From the theme "student to student interactions" a sub-theme "perceived ease of interaction with peers" emerged and this accounted for 35% of the variance explaining Sakai LMS's ability to enhance student interactions with the instructor (Table 5).A male student in the in-depth interview had this say:

Perceived interactivity among students
As a medium of teaching and learning, the Sakai LMS empowered students to communicate more effectively with fellow students through the chat and discussion forum tools.For most students, this enabled comprehension and allowed students to follow in class during the face-to-face class sessions or reading on their own from the course resources.A student had this to say to confirm this: . . .my learning using Sakai LMS was enhanced by the opportunity to learn with other students.The use of the Sakai LMS communication tools such as: course announcements, mailing, calendaring, course resources, discussion forums, chat, and online quizzes helped me to learn collaboratively with other students.
From the theme "student to instructor interactions" a sub-theme "perceived ease of interaction with the instructor" emerged accounting for 31% of the variance explaining Sakai LMS's ability to enhance interactions among students and with the instructor.Students in the in-depth interview had this to say on their interactions with the instructor: . . . the instructor puts up videos and other learning materials for us and at specific times on certain days he was present online to interact with us and answer to questions that we had.I found these helpful to my learning.Now students have confirmed that some good interactions and feedback provision go on that help clear things up and make their learning effective.There is the need to investigate and address potential issues such as internet unavailability, slow connectivity and power outages rather than solely focussing on the instructor as the root cause of teaching and learning problems Does course instruction taking place through the mediation of the Sakai LMS facilitate students' engagement for effective learning?Findings from this study have shown that, the Sakai LMS does provide the right mediation for student engagement for effective learning.How may students' academic experiences be enhanced and by so doing provide them a sense of community in their online learning with the Sakai LMS? Findings from the study have suggested that instructors must continually facilitate the interactions among students, between students and the course content and between students and the instructor.
Students have shown in the survey and in the in-depth interviews, they are satisfied and grateful to the instructor for the classroom and online interactions.Does the instructor employ efficient tools that are designed to make teaching and learning interactive and effective?The instructor participated in the discussion forums and probed students with reflective questions that stimulated students to reflect on their own experiences to make their learning meaningful.What elements must be present and what should the instructor do to make the Sakai LMS benefit students in their learning?Findings from the study have suggested that good interactions with the course content, good interactions with the instructor and good interactions among students will empower the instructor to teach and students to learn effectively through the Sakai LMS as the medium.
Findings from this study are in line with other studies such as Tutu et al. (2016), Brown (2016) and Hassini (2006) showing that the Sakai LMS is a great system for student-content interaction.Brown (2016) points out that, an effective student-content interaction will require a thoughtful configuration and content submission by the instructor.Hassini (2006) argued that instructors are the connection between students and knowledge, with Marks et al. (2005) showing the need for instructors to assist students with a careful incorporation of course content which is important to get students to actively engage and participate in the online learning environment.
Findings from the study also tie in with others on collaborative learning.Dennen and Paulus (2005) for instance showed that discussion forums can be very effective in the creation and showing of knowledge among students when students are engaged in the dialogue process.Picciano, also noted that, a class discussion can go on for days without being constrained by a bell schedule.Furthermore, student opinion studies have shown that, learning was enhanced by a variety of web-based communication tools, such as private e-mailing, calendaring, course notes, discussion forums, online grading, assignment descriptors, and online quizzes (Green et al., 2004).

Importance of digital technologies in Africa's education sector
The success of the use of digital technologies to teach and learn in Africa would require students' input.In this case study, we used a survey (n = 230) and in-depth interviews (n = 10) to elicit information on students' perception of student-instructor, student-student, and student-content interactions in an undergraduate Adult Education class in Ghana.The mediums of interaction used in the course were (1) a learning management system (Sakai), (2) email, and (3) social media (WhatsApp).Results from a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that the main constituents of students' perception of teaching their learning using technology-Sakai Learning Management were (1) Perceived interactivity between students and the course content (2) Perceived interactivity between students and the instructor, and (3) Perceived interactivity among students.
The study found that Sakai as a learning tool enhanced students' participation in discussion forums and online chats that enhanced the teaching and learning process through the sharing of ideas and course resources with one another.It was concluded that learning management system (Sakai) can serve as a huge intermediary between instructors and students through content storage and ease of use, when students are tutored on its use and when assignment submission capabilities are enabled.This required thoughtful design of the course and its contents.While social media (e.g., WhatsApp and others) are widely used in Ghana mostly for non-educational purposes, we concluded that there may be real utility for the use of digital technologies for academic purposes.This provides, among other things, an additional channel of communication and supplements the traditional methods of communication, primarily emails and face-to-face tutorials.Students in our study enjoyed another channel of communication for office hours and instructors may consider this pervasive social media platform on the University of Ghana's campus.Finally, students expressed positive attitudes for course announcements, as well as instructional videos and weblinks.Such announcements served as crucial reminders for students regarding assignment due dates, guest lecturer schedules, as well as test and examination schedules.This made students feel they are in constant touch with their professor and the course content.It is believed that an optimal interplay of ICT through the employment of digital technologies and devices and face-toface instruction in a blended course environment in Ghana and the rest of Africa will serve students very well.
The availability of cheaper digital devices and the proliferation in educational app development have made it possible for many learners in Africa to access quality educational resources outside of the classroom.According to McNulty, an increase in digital access (especially in Nigerian and South African markets) has enabled educational technology businesses and non-profit organizations to broaden education, taking learning to students in the comfort of their homes.Leveraging digital devices like cell phones, smartphones, and tablets has the potential to shape a new authentically African-designed education.As more people gain access to digital devices (while quality in-classroom education remains less consistently available), learners get additional ways to access and share vital knowledge using digital devices.
Digital learning is useful in Africa because mobile device ownership in Africa has increased rapidly in recent years.According to McNulty in 2002 only 8% of Ghanaians owned cell phones.However, 14 years later in 2018, studies in a similar-sized survey revealed that 83% of the Ghanaians owned cell phones.The increased access to cell phones across the African continent makes mobile learning a useful way to reach a broader segment of learners who may have the capacity and desire to learn but limited, unequal access to classroom education.McNulty (2016) further showed that aside from providing increased access, digital learning has multiple benefits such as: (1) Usability: The use of digital technology for learning by mobile-owning learners is devoid of usability problems because mobile users know how to use their devices, thus the barrier to learning how to use new mobile educational technology is low (2) Access: Learners can access lessons and learning feedback anywhere using their devices: During commutes, for example, and at home.
(3) Instant feedback: Learners can receive instant feedback such as grading of questions without being dependent on teachers.
(4) Personalized learning: Digital lessons can be tailored to individuals' academic strengths and weaknesses, providing educational supplementation that helps to fill any crucial gaps in learning.
Employing digital technology for learning is a viable choice educational technology in Africa because, in many African countries, landline ownership is minimal, and learners do not have access to broadband internet.Digital devices, however, provide connectivity and the possibility for online and social learning (as well as text-service learning for learners whose households do not own a smart phone).Besides digital communication in Africa enables teachers, parents, and learners to share knowledge and develop stronger educational frameworks (McNulty, 2016).Vosloo argued that digital devices are streamlining education administration and improving communication between schools, teachers, and parents and that phones could be the future of education on the African continent.
African educators can achieve a great deal using digital learning.McNulty (2016) outlined multiple ways of using digital learning to include: (1) Delivering via phone packages of educational content along with assessment.
(2) Engaging learners socially using educational apps to share knowledge in a mutually beneficial, collaborative digital environment.
(3) The use of gamification by African educators, which is making lessons more engaging by using African gaming principles in design with mobile devices McNulty (2016) provides specific examples in Africa of cases where digital technologies have been effectively used to transform and design education as follows: (1) ReKindle Learning, founded by ed-tech entrepreneur Rapelang Rabana, works to improve education in Africa using digital technology.One tool ReKindle Learning has developed is KnowledgeFox which ReKindle Learning describes as an 'adaptive learning tool that ensures personalised reinforcement of learning in a wide range of academic and organizational areas'.Adaptive learning makes use of data generated by the learner when using the platform.This versatile framework has been developed not only for helping in academic subjects but also for process and systems training and professional skills development.
(2) Rethink Education is another effective digital learning venture described by McNulty (2016) as having transformed the design of education in Africa.The ed-tech business uses mobile platforms to improve access to education with the mission of giving learners equal access to education, anywhere.Digital learning tools by Rethink Education include an app providing mathematics and science support for Grade 8 to 12 learners.Learners can work through the full high school mathematics and science curriculum using Rethink Education's app, and educators can also customize existing app frameworks to serve their educational institutions' needs.

Advancing educational technology for the African renaissance
Global competition from other educational providers, broad industry trends, technological changes, shifting government policies, changing market forces, demographic shifts, and economic developments necessitate major changes in what is taught, how it is taught, who is taught, and how learning takes place.A consensus has formed within growing circles in academia that, scholarly research must continuously be done on teaching and learning with changing times.The systematic creation of rigorous knowledge about teaching and learning is a crucial prerequisite to responding to major challenges facing academia in the renaissance.
Emerging opportunities for research, teaching, and learning in the renaissance include abundance of resources on the Internet including MOOCs (open content), increasing use of technology in the workplace, capacity to work, learn, study, and do research in any setting (mobile learning), increasing demand for personalized learning and increasing importance of informal learning.Other emerging opportunities through digital technologies include, increasing importance of digital media literacy, emergence of new cost-efficient educational delivery systems, decentralized IT support systems and infrastructure-Cloud computing and near-ubiquitous connectivity.
Global technological shifts in education and learning have facilitated shifts in education and learning from physical to digital, from standards to habits, from compliance to play, from schools to communities, from reaction to interaction, from isolation to connectives, and from privacy to transparency.Key issues for innovative educators within academic institutions, businesses, and governments and non-governmental organizations to pursue in the African Renaissance should foster innovation and creativity in research, teaching, and learning via the use of Learning Management Systems and emerging technologies.But this is not about learning how to use technology or even teaching with technology tools, it is about students creating and constructing with technology.
Growing a digital economy anywhere in the world today rests on online presence and employment of digital technologies, so this should be the lynchpin for African renaissance.It facilitates information gathering, recording, retrieval, and sharing and encourages content creation.The employment of digital technologies for the African renaissance motivates for the application of scholarship of teaching and learning anytime, any day, and anywhere.It facilitates electronic receipt and submission of assignments and assessments, the use of plagiarism detection software and technologies will encourage originality among students and will enhance the teaching, learning, and research using the 7Cs of creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving, communication, collaboration, computational thinking, choice, and caring.

Policy implications
According to Cuban (1986), a long history of technology use in education reveals that, there is an inclination to make use of innovative technology in the same traditional ways as the old technology.Our study has implications for policy directives to reform the old curricula and pedagogical approaches to education delivery, utilizing the advantages of the new and emerging technologies and media.Our conception of the community of inquiry framework is based on a constructivist epistemology.According to the Constructivist theory, knowledge does not exist external to the learner, but rather individual learners construct their own meanings based on their prior experiences.Learning, according to Brown et al. (1989), therefore becomes the product of construction, collaboration, reflection, and negotiation within a rich context in which learning is situated.
In a study of Master of Arts (MA) program in Contemporary Issues in an Adult Education classroom, Samoan & Oheneba-Sakyi applied constructivist tenets to address an ICT-mediated teaching and learning.The study provided an analysis of the professor's constructivist pedagogical approach in designing curriculum, engaging in learner-centered teaching delivery, developing an assessment method, and using educational technologies including the Sakai Learning Management System for the teaching and learning.Among the findings were that the lessons were student-centered, participatory, and allowed students to interact with the instructor, contents, and peers.Students were engaged in active team-based collaborative and problem-based learning.Additionally, the study confirmed that the culturally determined joint activity between students and social context resulted in an internal state of interest, cognitive engagement, and motivated behavior (Asamoah & Oheneba-Sakyi, 2017).
This study has shown that technology has the potential to support constructivist learning and be used for promoting active, authentic, and co-operative interactions among students, faculty, and the course content.By interacting with peers, collaborating, discussing ideas, forming arguments, and negotiating meanings, learners create and build new knowledge.Policy directives should encourage the appropriate use of technology to provide a more decentralized environment where students take charge and own the learning environment and thus become active builders of knowledge while they work on creative tasks.New policy directives should work to stimulate the shift of the role of the faculty from knowledge transmitter to that of a facilitator through the intermediation of Information Communication Technologies and computer networks.
The World Bank's 2018 report on the Human Capital Index (HCI) revealed that about 56% of Ghana's human capital will go waste in the next 18 years because of the poor quality of the country's education system (Ngnenbe, 2018).The HCI, which measures the amount of capital that a child born in the country today can expect to attain by age 18, stated that the poor quality of education would translate into lack of capacity to support sustainable national development.Ghana ranked 116th out of 157 countries, and according to Dr Antonio Guffrida, the only way to reverse the trend is for the country (and Africa as a whole) to invest in its human resources to imbibe the right innovation and technology that would help make the best use of the natural resources (Ngnenbe, 2018).
The theoretical basis of this study has supported the argument that technologies are not deliverers of content but rather tools that instructors/faculty and students use to construct knowledge and share meaning.Therefore, the use of technology and cultural tools to communicate, exchange information, and construct knowledge is key to the constructivist epistemology.Effective strategies for teaching and learning around the world have adequately provided tools the learner will use to create and build meaning.To this end, it is implied that new policy directives mainstream the training of faculty/instructors to use new technologies including the Learning Management Systems in ways that would allow their students use these technologies as mind tools that enable them to represent what they know, create their own content and meaning, and organize their knowledge in meaningful ways to find solutions to challenges in their socio-cultural milieu.

Conclusion
It is concluded that, the Sakai LMS was an effective intermediary between students and course content (student-instructor interactions), also between students and the instructor (studentinstructor interactions) and between students and students (student-to-student interactions).The Sakai LMS was able to accomplish this through content storage in the Sakai LMS resource tools, which enabled easy access and use when students actively interacted with the course content, instructor, and fellow students.This helped students to understand how to successfully navigate through the learning management system to achieve their learning outcomes.Students highly rated survey items that involved communication tools and explored opportunities for dialogue and online conversation, confirming that, peer-to-peer online dialogue and conversation provided a rich opportunity for collaborative knowledge generation.
It is also concluded that a course structure that engages students and consistently involves them in the learning process is important to ensure meaningful student learning.
To be effective, the instructor employing the Sakai LMS must provide the guidelines associated with the use of the Sakai LMS tools including the general rules of use, ways for student posting and use of communication tools.Hirschheim (2005), pointed out some limitations in online learning environment as 'students missing lectures, discussions, questions, assignments, group work, and the instructor's views and perspectives-all as part of the traditional classroom.However, in this study, students have shown that effective use of the communication tools in the Sakai LMS can avoid such losses and encourage every student to participate in the discussions.Online communication tools in the Sakai LMS also provided opportunities for students to engage in the learning process and enhance meaningful learning.They allowed the student ways to interact more meaningfully with the course content and allowed the instructor ways to interact more with every student in the class to have effective control of the discussions taking place in the Sakai platform.Future studies can examine the effectiveness of adopting specific communication tools in the Sakai LMS learning environment.
The founder and president of Ashesi University in Ghana, Dr Patrick Awuah did not mince words when he stated that sitting in Africa's classrooms today are students whose education will set Africa's course over the next 20-30 years (Awuah, 2012).And that to change Africa's future, we must change the mindset of young Africans in college today because, the continent's future progress, or the lack of it, is inextricably linked to what is happening in African universities.He concludes that a transformative higher education, focused on ethical leadership and innovative thinking, is a leveraged path to a new Africa (Awuah, 2012).
The Sakai LMS has ensured active participation by students and the instructor alike, effective management, and increased presence of the instructor and students and content to interact.These can improve student and instructor retention and reduce drop-out rates among students and provide enhanced opportunity for effective student teaching and learning.
The main limitation of using accidental sampling to select level 100 students to share their experiences on the use of a technology in managing their learning outcomes is that it is not a representative sample.Accidental sampling does not take into account factors such as age, gender, or other demographic characteristics that may influence the responses of the participants.Additionally, accidental sampling may not be able to provide a large enough sample size to be able to draw meaningful conclusions from the results.Finally, accidental sampling can be subject to bias, as the researcher has no control over the selection of the participants.Future research directions may include conducting a larger, more representative survey of students at different levels (e.g., 200, 300, 400) and different universities to gain a better understanding of the use of technology in managing learning outcomes.Researchers could investigate the impact of technology on learning outcomes, including factors such as engagement, motivation, and achievement.Some relevant, exciting, and novel theoretical implications drawn from this study that have sought to manage student learning outcomes with educational technologies could be the potential for technology to transform the traditional teacher-centered learning environment into a more student-centered and personalized learning experience.This study has found that technologyenabled learning activities and tools allowed students to take control of their own learning by providing them with greater autonomy and flexibility in how, when, and where they learned.This shift in the locus of control from the teacher to the student could have important implications for how we think about the role of technology in education and its potential to support and enhance student learning outcomes.Another theoretical implication that could be drawn is the potential for technology-enhanced personalized learning.Personalized learning refers to the use of technology to suit learning experiences to the unique needs and interests of individual students.By analyzing data from educational technologies, such as learning management systems, and others like intelligent tutoring systems, and adaptive learning software, educators can gain insights into student learning behaviors, preferences, and challenges, and use this information to design more effective and engaging learning experiences.Also, there are important implications for how educators think about teaching and learning.Traditional models of education tend to be one-size-fits-all, with teachers delivering the same content to all students at the same pace.However, personalized learning recognizes that every student is unique and has different learning needs and styles.By leveraging the power of educational technologies to personalize learning, educators can create more engaging, effective, and equitable learning experiences that help students achieve their full potential.
Furthermore, the use of educational technologies to manage student learning outcomes also raises important questions about the role of educators in the learning process.Rather than simply delivering content, educators must become facilitators of learning, providing guidance and support to help students navigate the personalized learning experience.This requires a shift in mindset and a new set of skills and competencies for educators, including data analysis, technology integration, and collaboration with other professionals.
Findings from the study could also have broader implications for theories of learning, such as constructivism, and Garrison and Anderson's (2003) community of inquiry framework, which emphasizes the importance of active student engagement and interaction in the learning process.By providing students with greater agency and choice, technology could be seen as a powerful tool for facilitating the kind of student-centered, inquiry-based learning that is central to constructivist theories of learning.
Overall, the theoretical implications of managing student learning outcomes with educational technologies point to the potential for more personalized, effective, and equitable learning experiences that empower students to take ownership of their learning and achieve their full potential.

Figure
Figure 1.Garrison and Anderson's community of inquiry model (after Garrison & Anderson, 2003).

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Scree plot of how the Sakai LMS enhances course content interactivity.

Table 3 . Three principal components of Sakai LMS's ability to enhance students' interaction with course content
From Table1, statements 16 to 29, 14 survey items measured interactions among students (seven items each for students and instructors).A mean of 3.3 on the 5-point Likert scale was the lowest