Attitudes towards Online Learning: What Do Brazilian Students Think About?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, it aimed to determine whether there are differences in Brazilian students’ attitudes towards online learning compared to their purpose in seeking for this modality and the localization of the pole where they received face-to-face support. Second, it aimed to identify if Brazilian students’ attitudes towards online learning predict their self-perception of performance in the course. A correlational and explanatory quantitative approach was taken through a survey. Data was collected from 593 undergraduate students enrolled in the online public administration course offered by different Brazilian universities. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, group comparison (ANOVA) and multiple linear regression were employed for data analysis. Findings revealed that there are differences between students’ attitudes compared to their purpose in seeking for online courses and compared to the localization of the pole where they received face-to-face support. Statistically significant differences were found for Favorable personnel and dispositional aspects (PDA), Negative affects (NA) and Internalization and habituation of use (IHU) attitude dimensions. Furthermore, the study identified predictors of students’ self-perception of performance in online courses corresponding to how much students perceive they are accustomed to and capable of taking an online course, represented by the attitude dimension IHU. Results showed significant positive relationship between two attitude dimensions (PDA and PC) and the dimension IHU. In addition, significant negative relationship was found between the biographical variable family income and the dimension IHU. The model explains 40% of the variance of IHU in which PDA represents the strongest predictor.