Unveiling the correlates of university students attitude towards online education

Abstract

The education landscape in India is undergoing massive transformation due to rapid advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and its increasing integration in education sector in India. It has transformed the way education services are planned, structured and delivered to the masses. The Corona pandemic has, per force, accelerated the use of ICTs in education sector and brought to center stage the concepts such as online education or e-learning. The present study was carried out to find out the attitude of Undergraduate students towards online education and the factors affecting it at a premier Agriculture University in North India. Using exploratory research design, the study sample comprised of 185 respondents selected using stratified random sampling method, and the data was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire which was e-mailed to the selected respondents. The study findings revealed that a majority of the respondents displayed a 'neutral to positive' attitude towards online education. Further, age, academic performance, family education status, Annual family income, Family size, Technology readiness, and Application skills were found to be the major factors that affected attitude towards online education. The value of Coefficient of determination, i.e. R2 (0.5729) reiterated that all the independent variables contributed 57.29% variation in the dependent variable. Hence, concerted efforts have to be made by the policy makers, administrators, and academicians concerned to make the necessary improvements in planning, implementing and strengthening online education strategies.