Examination of sports science faculty students’ attitudes towards online learning by different variables

Abstract

Background and Study Aim. In distance education, students’ attitudes towards this method gain importance in the process. The aim of this research is to examine the impact of coronavirus anxiety, academic self-sufficiency and life satisfaction levels of students in the faculty of sports sciences over their attitudes towards online learning. Material and Methods. A total of 379 sports science faculty students voluntarily participated for the cross-sectional data collection. A simple random sampling method was used in the selection of students from four universities in the Eastern Anatolian region, which make up the universe of the study. Data were collected electronically and analysed by IBM SPSS and AMOS statistical package program. Results. The structural equity model results revealed that academic self-sufficiency and life satisfaction are positive predictors of online learning attitudes and negative predictors of coronavirus anxiety. Online learning attitude was found to be positively correlated with other variables other than coronavirus anxiety. In addition, it has been determined that the scale total scores are slightly above average, except for coronavirus anxiety. Conclusions. The results have been discussed in terms of their meaning for the environment of physical education. In this research, which created a model for understanding online learning attitudes in students of the faculty of sports sciences, it was understood that coronavirus anxiety has a statistically significant effect on online learning attitudes while academic self-sufficiency and life satisfaction do not have a statistically significant effect. Students’ positive attitude towards online learning and understanding the predictors of this attitude will be a development to be appreciated by all stakeholders of the subject.