Teachers' attitudes and implementation of e-learning in cyber-secondary schools in Jinja district, Uganda

Abstract

The study sought to establish the relationship between teachers' attitudes and implementation of e-learning in selected Cyber Secondary Schools in Jinja District specifically between teachers' attitudes and (1) online information searching; (2) e discussions; and (3) e-assessments. A cross-sectional descriptive design was employed where a population of 60 teachers and 10 administrators from 4 selected secondary schools in Jinja District participated. The teachers and administrators were selected using stratified random sampling and purposive sampling techniques respectively. Structured questionnaires and semi-structured interview guides were used to collect data. A trial test on 5 respondents using test-retest reliability was carried out which yielded reliability coefficient of 0.87 and internal consistency of Cronbach a = 0.89 for the questionnaire while a content validity index of 0.83 was obtained after subjecting the instruments to 3 competent raters. Descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients were used to analyse quantitative data while qualitative data was analysed according to themes and similarity of responses. The findings revealed there is a very strong positive association (r = 0.95) between teachers' attitudes and online information searching, a strong positive relationship (r = 0.87) with electronic discussions and also a strong positive relationship (r = 0.85) with electronic assessments. The results also found that teachers have moderately positive attitudes towards online information searching and e-discussions consisting higher confidence, enjoyment, enthusiasm and perceived usefulness but negative attitudes towards e-assessment specifically with perceived insecurity. Furthermore, the study recommended that more computer training and administrator support should be given to teachers to elicit strong positive attitudes.