Influences of academic self-efficacy, academic procrastination and digital literacy for online learning

• Main Author: Yong, Elaine *
• Format: Article
• Published: ACM Digital Library 2022
• Subjects: LB Theory and practice of education; QA Mathematics
• Online Access: http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/3126/; https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3551708.3551722; https://doi.org/10.1145/3551708.3551722
• Institution: Sunway University

Online learning became a norm amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Sudden governmental movement control directives prohibited the gentle easing of students into online learning; and disregarded individual learning preferences. Despite that, it is still vital to understand student preferences to facilitate better adaptation and coping with online or blended learning courses. Therefore, a correlational study was designed to investigate preferences for online learning (POL) based on academic self-efficacy (ASE), academic procrastination (AP), and digital literacy (DL) levels. A total of 272 responses were analysed. Respondents were full-time undergraduates aged between 18 to 26 years (M = 20.8, SD = 1.38). Most were females (n=209, 76.5%) and had prior online learning experience (n = 221, 81.3%). The relationship between variables and group differences such as gender and prior experience were examined. Results showed all three study variables were related to POL in the anticipated direction. However, only DL was a significant predictor of POL. Males perceived higher levels of ASE and DL. Students with prior experience had a significantly higher POL. Findings implied that DL and prior experience were important factors in accepting online learning. Therefore, this study calls for a systematic approach to develop ICT skills and encourage exposure to short online classes before enrolment into tertiary education.