Students' perceptions towards using an e-learning tool, Tax-Tim, as a teaching and learning method in Taxation 1 syllabus

Abstract

The expanding world of technology has extended into the education space through employers’ needs regarding graduates’ technology attributes. To keep abreast of the trends of technology adoption in education, particularly blended theory and technology learning and to provide a basis for practical teaching and learning. The need for continued research in this area has arisen. The purpose of the research is to investigate students’ perceptions of using an e-learning, e-filing tool to determine their attitudes towards acceptance of using technology and the benefits and challenges of e-learning tool, Tax-Tim. The intention of the assessment is to investigate students’ ability to apply the theoretical underpinnings of the Taxation 1 syllabus to an online simulation of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) efiling system. The e-learning tool chosen was Tax-Tim which simulates a SARS efiling tool and is assessed by an independent company called Tax-Tim. The research defined three objectives. The first research objective was addressed by hypotheses developed using the theoretical framework of the Technology Acceptance model (TAM) developed by Davis (1989). To be able to explain user acceptance of new e-learning technology using the antecedents of the TAM, constructs used included perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), Attitude towards (ATT) and behavioural intention (BI) with external variable computer self-efficacy. The second objective explored the extent of effectiveness of using Tax-Tim as a case study e-learning tool. The third objective was to investigate the extent to which Tax-Tim worked together with determining the benefits and challenges of the e-filing simulation tool, Tax-Tim, that the students identified. Descriptive statistics highlighted that students mostly agreed that Tax-Tim was an effective tool and added value to their experience of an e-learning tool. Additionally, English second language students found Tax-Tim to be more helpful than English language students. Four hypotheses, H3, H4, H6 and H7 positively supported the TAM model. Alternatively, three hypotheses, H1, H2 and H5 did not contribute to the TAM model. CSE was rejected as positively supporting the hypothesis. The research could be used as a basis for e-learning technology adoption at Durban University of Technology and using e-learning for a blended learning approach.