Examining the Self-Efficacy for Online Learning across Young and Old Age Students of Sindh

Abstract

This paper presents the self-efficacy for online learning during a pandemic across two age groups young (25 and below) and old (above 25) from different schools and universities in Sindh based on five constructs of self-efficacy. These constructs include completion of online courses, social interaction among students, academic interaction among students, interaction with instructors, and handling online tools of course management. This was a quantitative study with a web-based survey. The population of the study was school and university students of Sindh aging from 18 onwards and have taken online classes. The sample (n=162) was selected conveniently. And the data were gathered using an adopted questionnaire of self-efficacy for online learning (SeQoL) which has an excellent Cronbach’s alpha value (0.947). The analysis was done by exploratory, descriptive, and inferential analysis. The results of the study reveal that the old group has shown higher (M= 3.07; SD= 0.57) self-efficacy for online learning as compared to their counterparts in the younger group (M= 2.72; SD= 0.54). The difference was found to be significant (p<0.001) with a medium magnitude (r=0.321). Therefore, the paper concludes that both age groups have a certain level of self-efficacy for online learning. However, the older students have higher self-efficacy than their counterparts. This study presents some limitations and recommendations for both policy and practice levels and for future studies.