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LMS Transition Dataset

Whilst the perceptions and experiences of transitioning between learning management systems (LMS) has been explored among faculty in higher education, there is minimal research focused on the experiences of students. Furthermore, there is a lack of quantitative literature investigating the factors associated with successful transition between LMS. In the current study, we will address this gap in the literature by shifting the focus to students’ perceptions and experiences of switching to a different LMS, specifically from Blackboard to Canvas. Further, we will explore whether factors relating to technology self-efficacy, LMS experience, and personality characteristics predict attitudes, affect, and acceptance when switching between systems.

Whilst the perceptions and experiences of transitioning between learning management systems (LMS) has been explored among faculty in higher education, there is minimal research focused on the experiences of students. Furthermore, there is a lack of quantitative literature investigating the factors associated with successful transition between LMS. In the current study, we will address this gap in the literature by shifting the focus to students’ perceptions and experiences of switching to a different LMS, specifically from Blackboard to Canvas. Further, we will explore whether factors relating to technology self-efficacy, LMS experience, and personality characteristics predict attitudes, affect, and acceptance when switching between systems.

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the use of representations and symbols of Canadian identity within the event coverage produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship Corporation, in the context of its two key events, Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Fight Night, produced in Canada. To establish the historical context in which the sport developed in Canada, a narrative historiography of the political and legal struggles that led to the legalization and increasing popularity of Mixed Martial Arts, and the UFCC’s version of the sport, in particular. This first major part of the dissertation is contained in Study 1. The second major part of the dissertation consists of two interrelated studies (Studies 2 and 3), both focussing on narratives of Canadian identity produced by the UFCC in its main event and related coverage. Using Stuart Hall concept of encoding/decoding, Study 2 investigated the UFCC’s broadcast and narrative production as the encoding stage of the communication process. Study 3, conversely, investigated the responses and comments produced by the UFC fan base, in response to the UFCC’s coverage. Certain fan blogs and web sites were investigated as the expression of the fan base perspective. These responses were investigated as the decoding stage, in Hall’s conceptualization of the communication process. The findings from studies 2 and 3 show that the strategic use of specific themes of Canadian identity invoked in the context of UFC event coverage, was to a large extent accepted positively by the segment of the fan base investigated here; however, oppositional or negotiated readings of the UFCC’s coverage was significantly evident in the fan blog responses as well.

The sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), found in 1993, has a very tenuous history. Three influencing factors, sport-related violence, the sportization process, and subculture, have interacted directly with events and individuals through the sport’s history, resulting in these three multi-directional sources of influences having the greatest effect on the direction and development of the sport. MMA, initially promoted as a violent spectacle, became the target of political attacks. Such unprecedented levels and presentation of sporting violence had never before been seen. In reaction, the sportization process of MMA began and the subculture of the sport started to develop as a reaction to the political pressure. The top MMA organization, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), changed ownership in 2001, resulting in the legitimizing of violence, entrance into the global sports system, and increased diversity of the subculture. The interaction between violence, sportization, and subculture transformed MMA from a violent event with limited reach to a modern global spectacle.