Students’ Online Learning Self-Efficacy during the Spread of Corona Pandemic (Covid-19) at Sultan Qaboos University

Abstract

The current study targets measuring the level of online learning self-efficacy among Sultan Qaboos University students during the spread of the Corona pandemic (Covid-19). The tool adopted by this study, to measure online learning self-efficacy, is OLSES, which was developed by Zimmerman & Kulikowich (2016). OLSES has been translated into Arabic by a well experienced translator. The OLSES scale was applied to a sample of 120 male and female students studying at Sultan Qaboos University to verify its psychometric properties in terms of its validity and reliability. Following on establishing the stability and integrity of the scale, it was applied on a research sample of 1560 male and female students at the same university. The results of the study indicated a high level of online learning self-efficacy among university students. Furthermore, the study showed a significant statistical difference between male and female students in favor of female students. Meanwhile, the community of the students, in terms of rural and urban, and the type of study, whether humanitarian or practical, did not have any significant statistical difference. The number of years variable at the university indicated significant statistical differences for only time management variable with higher self-efficacy for students who studied for five years or more.