Assessment of students' perceptual readiness for e-learning in Iranian Universities

Background and Objectives: The current generation of academic learners is considered "digital natives" because of their ease of use and familiarity with networking technologies; However, there are ambiguities about the readiness of students to study in an e-learning environment. In particular, Iranian students' lack of motivation for e-learning, despite much infrastructure investment over the past two decades, has been a major challenge that has recently attracted the attention of higher education planners to e-learning readiness, especially from a perceptual perspective. This study investigated the perceptual readiness level of Iranian students for e-learning. Therefore, the current state of perceptual readiness of Iranian students to participate in the e-learning environment beyond the presumption of "existence" or "lack" of this preparation is such that their actual readiness is determined in a number of important universities. Methods: This research is philosophically placed in the positivism paradigm and the logic of deductive reasoning is used. Its macro-targeting is applied, and the survey research strategy is used to collect first-hand data using a questionnaire tool. The survey data were collected between April 2018 and February 2019. In addition, two complementary approaches have been used to formulate and weigh the indicators and criteria for assessing students' e-learning readiness: first, the use of indicators and criteria developed in previous research, and second, and the use of subject matter experts in the country. The use of data from other researches makes it possible to compare the results with the findings of other researchers, and the use of expert opinion causes the localization of indicators and criteria with the requirements and context of higher education in the country. The students' perceptual readiness was measured by the following four scales: Attitude, Perceived usefulness, Willingness and Perceived self-efficacy; Then, the weight of each scale and measure will be calculated. Finally, based on the rating results, the students' perceptual readiness at the number of comprehensive universities and specialized universities will be estimated. Findings: The average perceptual readiness of students for e-learning in 15 selected Iranian universities is 4.9 out of 10, which indicates the situation at the "average" level. Also, the findings show that about 35% of the students' readiness measures are below the "good" level, and the average of all readiness measures is at the "medium" level. Also, considering students' relative perceptual readiness for e-learning, especially in "perceived self-efficacy" and "attitudes" scales, the deans of universities should focus on the two main activities of "enhancing students' self-efficacy through e-learning" and "providing an appropriate e-learning environment”. Conclusion: Considering the decrease in the number of e-learning Iranian students, the results of this study show that one of the important reasons for the failure of e-learning systems in Iranian universities can be students' lack of perceptual readiness. At the same time, considering the lower than average level of students' readiness in the "willingness" and "perceived usefulness" scales, there is a need to focus on awareness and education of students in this regard. Besides, relying on students 'relative readiness to understand self-efficacy and attitude indicators, universities should put two main activities on their agenda: 1) further strengthening students' self-efficacy through e-learning, and 2) providing a suitable environment. For e-learning for students. ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS©2021 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. ====================================================================================