Attitudes toward E-learning in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad: Case of English and Engineering Students

By growth of technology in the field of education, many virtual universities have been established and at a same time, using e-learning has been increased in the universities. In the present study, a mixed method was used as a methodology. In the quantitative phase it initially sought to empirically examine the students' attitudes toward e-learning in Ferdowsi university of Mashhad, virtual campus. Then, the attitudes of MA students' majoring in English translation and English teaching (English group) were compared to M.Sc. students' attitudes majoring in four engineering majors (Engineering group). A total 80 virtual students (37.5% English language group and 62.5% Engineering group) who were using e-learning and were in the last year of education participated in the study. A valid and reliable questionnaire which was adopted from Vatanparast, Royani and Ghasemi in 2009, was used to investigate students' overall attitude toward e-learning. In the qualitative phase, two open ended questions were added at the end to investigate students' views and experiences in using e-learning. According to statistics, the overall attitudes of students toward e-learning was positive and there was no significant difference between students' attitude majoring in English language and students' attitude majoring in Engineering. However, in qualitative section the students mentioned essential difficulties and gave challenging comments for more effective learning based on their experiences during these years.