Computer Attitude of Entry Level University Students in Rural Areas of Pakistan: A Case Study

Abstract

Attitudes related to the mind are the key influencing elements of students’ learning and educational outcomes. It is believed that students possessing positive attitudes towards learning a particular subject learn more readily and deeply as compared to those who possess negative attitudes. Likewise, students’ attitude toward learning computers highly influences their learning outcomes and success rate in the computing field. Accordingly, assessing students’ attitudes toward computers serves as a predictor of their subsequent behavior during studies as well as in the practical field afterward. Assessing students’ attitudes also assists in determining the effectiveness of teaching-learning approaches and thus helps to select the most appropriate approach. In this regard, the current paper undertakes the assessment of the attitude of entry-level university students towards computers in rural areas of Sindh province of Pakistan. Assessing students’ attitudes in rural areas specifically is necessary as students belonging to such regions have different socio-economic conditions and, therefore, varying computing facilities and resources as compared to students from urban areas. The results show that overall students possess a positive attitude towards computers; however, they depict higher levels of computer anxiety as a result of a lack of previous knowledge and experience of working with computers. Results further show that male students are slightly more likely to outperform female students as more male students possess prior knowledge and they experience less computer anxiety.