of Investigating the Role of the Components of Information Literacy in Acceptance of E-learning in Students of Technical & Engineering Faculty

The aim of this research was to investigate the role of the components of information literacy in acceptance of e-learning in students of Ferdows College of Engineering and Technology.

This was a descriptive-correlational piece of research in terms of method, conducted as a field study, a quantitative piece of research in terms of quality, and a practical investigation in terms of aim. Yazdani’s information literacy questionnaire and e-learning acceptance questionnaire, based on the technology acceptance model by Davis et al., were used for data collection. The research population was selected from among the students of Ferdows College of Engineering and Technology, including 392 students when the research was conducted. Efforts were also made as the questionnaires were being filled out to fully assure the students that their participation would be kept confidential, and would impose no responsibility or payment on them. Furthermore, given that the college students of engineering and technology were not acquainted with the methodology of research in the humanities, attempts were made to reply briefly to their questions concerning the stages of the quantitative research as far as possible, which led to the students’ greater accuracy and responsibility in completion of the questionnaires, and the filled-out questionnaires were collected from the classes after the allotted 20-minute time. A sample of 199 participants was selected using stratified random sampling. A test of correlation, the T test, and the method of regression analysis were used simultaneously for analysis of the data in SPSS 24.

The research findings demonstrated that 11.8 percent of e-learning acceptance was explained through the subcomponents of information literacy. Information location and information organization exhibited the highest amounts of effectiveness on e-learning acceptance, respectively. Information need, information exchange, and information assessment were next in the ranking, respectively. None of the above components, however, exhibited a unique significant contribution to e-learning acceptance. Moreover, no significant difference between the two genders was obtained with respect to the relationship between information literacy and e-learning acceptance in the students.

For increasing students’ acceptance of e-learning, all the components of information literacy should be enforced in students, with some of them holding greater priority of course. Therefore, it is suggested that training workshops be included in their curricula for enhancement of their levels of information literacy.