Factors Influencing Students' Use of Electronic Resources and their Opinions About this Use: The Case of Students at An-Najah National University

Abstract

Electronic resources are becoming an integral part of the modern life and of the educational scene, especially the high education scene. In this research we wanted to verify what influences first degree university students' use of electronic resources and their opinions regarding this use. Collecting data from 202 students and analyzing it using SPSS, we found that more than one half of the participants had high level of electronic media use and more than one third had moderate level of electronic media use. These levels of use indicate the students' awareness of the role and benefits of electronic media use. Regarding the factors that influence the students' se of electronic resources we found that the student's use of electronic resources had significant strong positive relationships with the provision of electronic resources by the academic institution. It had significant moderate positive relationships with the resources characteristics and the course requirement, and had significant weak relationships with the instructor's support and the student's characteristics. We explained these relationships as resulting from the influence of the surrounding community. Regarding the students' opinions about the use of electronic resources, we found that the student's opinion of electronic resources has significant strong positive relationships with student's use of electronic resources, level of this use, the academic institution available facilities, student's characteristics and resources characteristics. It does not have significant relationships with the instructor's support or the course requirement. We explained these relationships depending on activity theory and its integration with ecological psychology.