THE LEARNER READINESS FOR ONLINE LEARNING: SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was todetermine university students’ readiness for online learning. Mainly due to the study a multidimensional instrument for university students’ readiness for online learning (ROLS) developed and validated. The study adopted qualitativeresearch method based on quantitative data. The participants of the study comprised 297 universitystudents who were selected using randomlysampling model.The data were collected via readiness for online learning scale (ROLS)and analyzed usingexploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to establish the construct validity of the ROLS model. In addition, a series of one-way ANOVA were conducted to investigate the effect of demographic variables on readiness of online learning. Through confirmatoryfactor analysis, ROLS was validated in two dimensions: computer literacy (CL) and computer basedself-confidence (CSC). The results revealed that students’ levels of readiness were high in computer literacy and computer based self-confidence. In thestudy it was also found out that perception of students’ self-confidence while using computer caused significantstatistical differencesin two dimensions; the students who hadhigher level (very good, good) of self-confident perception while using computer students exhibited significantly greater readiness in the dimensions of CL and CSC than those who hadlower level of self-confident perception. There was no statistical difference in the two dimensions of ROLS in terms of gender, and the participant students at Facultiesof Educationhad similar levels in all readiness dimensions than theother participants in other faculties.