Explaining student retention based on psychological characteristics, previous experiences, academic background, management and computer skills in the e-learning environment.

Abstract

Background and Objective:e-learning is a new way of teaching that provides and manages learning opportunities to transfer knowledge and skills through the Internet and computer networks. At present, traditional teaching methods are no longer able to meet the needs of continuous growth and development of educational skills. New technologies offer more, newer and more exciting learning opportunities, such as the opportunity to gain a learning experience tailored to each student's ability and way of learning. e-learning through the use of information and communication technology breaks down the boundaries of access and time and provides new tools for learners to learn. On the other hand, because in Iran it is not possible to benefit from higher education in the form of face-to-face classes for all applicants, the expansion of e-learning provides a golden opportunity for the young, dynamic and student generation. Designing optimal e-learning services is a complex task and requires interdisciplinary skills. This research was conducted to investigate the relationship between psychological characteristics, previous experiences, academic background, management and computer skills and student retention in an e-learning environment. Methods: The present research is applied -quantitative in terms of its purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of collecting data. The statistical population in this study encompasses the electronics active students of Payamenoor University. Using 41 researcher-made questions, students were asked to specify their views in relation to any questions in a 5-point Likert scale (from totally agree to totally disagree with). The content validity of the research instrument was approved by five thesis supervisors, consultants, and experts. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine the validity of the measurement instrument's structure. All of the questions variables were fitted with factor load. The reliability of the instrument was confirmed by the Cronbach's alpha coefficient which was equal to 0.83. Findings: The results of data collection after adjustment and tabling were analyzed by statistical tests (exploratory). The results of Pearson correlation test showed a significant relationship between academic background and student retention (r=.17), previous experiences and student retention (r=.14), computer management skills and student retention (r=.47), and psychological characteristics and student retention (r=.52). Conclusion: The results of simultaneous regression also showed that predictor variables account for about 76% of student retention changes. ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS ©2019 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers. =====================================================================================

Keywords

• psychological characteristics
• previous experiences
• academic background
• management and computer skills
• student retention