This thesis has conducted interpretive qualitative research to investigate the impacts and limitations of LMS Moodle in distance students’ learning process from distance students’ perspectives. The qualitative data was collected from mediated semi-structured interviews with distance students participating in a Master program at Linnaeus University. Through empirical findings and analysis, the positive experiences and limitations of using Moodle in facilitating distance learning process have been revealed from distance students’ perspectives. The positive experiences include that LMS Moodle was used by distance students for interacting with other students, teachers and accessing study contents during their distance learning process. Moodle was used to know new classmates, teachers and the new learning system, recruit group members for the collaborative works, communicate with teachers and other classmates, and obtain significant information about courses. Especially, accessing study contents in Moodle easily was critical for distance students' learning. However, there were still some limitations. Distance students preferred Facebook to Moodle for student-student interaction during the process of collaborative works. The interaction with teachers was not adequate and timely for distance students. The limitations also include unsatisfactory Moodle interface design and poor usability of Moodle.   Some suggestions about improving LMS Moodle in different ways had also been acquired from the research. The suggestions from distance students mainly focus on integrating Moodle with other web conferencing platforms for improving the quality of student-student, student-teacher interaction in Moodle, ameliorating the interface design of Moodle, and adding Moodle tutorials. The result will help the development of LMS based on distance students' needs and finally benefit distance students' learning process.

Programmering inkluderar vanligtvis användningen av en dator och en textredigerare, men ändå avslutas programmeringskurser vid högskolor och universitet ofta med traditionella skriftliga tentor för att bedöma studenternas förvärvade praktiska kunskaper. Denna traditionella examineringsmetod begränsar komplexiteten i programmeringsproblem och kan leda till oavsiktliga subjektiva bedömningar. Tidigare studier om datorbaserade programmeringstentor som efterliknar verkliga programmeringsförhållanden tyder på att bedömningen av studenternas förvärvade kunskaper kan effektiviseras samtidigt som både betygs- och administrationsprocesser förenklas. Vi använder Bunges generella vetenskapliga metod och fallstudiemetodik för att utveckla ett system för datorbaserade programmeringstentor som kan implementeras på KTH Kista. Våra resultat tyder på att programmeringstentor kan utföras säkert på studenternas egna datorer genom att starta datorn i en begränsad förkonfigurerad systemmiljö med blockerad internetåtkomst från ett USBminne. Parat med den öppna lärplattformen Moodle kan tentorna administreras elektroniskt och utformas med automatiska rättningssprocesser. För att hjälpa tentavakter utvecklade vi även ett observationsverktyg som kan upptäcka om den begränsade systemmiljön kringgås. Trots uteblivna verkliga tester av systemet på grund av omständigheterna orsakade av den pågående pandemin, drar vi, med stöd av tidigare studier, slutsatsen att vår föreslagna lösning för datorbaserade programmeringstentor kan förbättra kvaliteten och effektiviteten av programmeringskurser och deras examinationsprocesser. / Programming usually includes the use of a computer and a text editor, yet programming courses given at institutions of higher education often conclude with traditional written exams to assess the students’ acquired practical knowledge. This traditional examination method restricts the complexity of programming problems and may result in unintentional subjective assessments. Previous research on computer-based programming exams that mimic real programming conditions suggest that the assessment of the students’ acquired knowledge can be made more efficient while also simplifying both grading and administration processes. We use Bunge’s general scientific method and case study methodology to develop a system for computer-based programming exams that can be implemented at KTH Kista. Our results suggest that programming exams can be safely performed on the students’ own computers by booting the computer into a restricted preconfigured system environment with blocked Internet access from a usb flash drive. Paired with the open-source learning management system Moodle, the exams can be administered electronically and designed with automatic grading processes. To help exam invigilators we also developed an observation tool that can detect if the restricted system environment is circumvented. Despite the lack of real tests of the system due to the circumstances caused by the ongoing pandemic, we conclude, with the support of previous studies, that our proposed solution for computer-based programming exams can improve the quality and efficiency of programming courses and their examination processes.