Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Online learning self‑efficacy: A necessity for virtual education

Document Type : Original Article

Author

. Habibeh Ahmadipour

Department of Community Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Medical Education Leadership and Management Research Center, Kerman, Iran

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Online learning self‑efficacy is considered a major contributor to academic success. 
The present study was conducted to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of 
the Online Learning Self‑Efficacy Scale.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional study was conducted on 211 medical students at 
Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2021 who were selected through the convenience method. 
Data were collected using a two‑part self‑administered online questionnaire containing demographic 
information and the Persian version of the Online Learning Self‑Efficacy Scale (OLSES). Forward and 
back‑translation methods were used to provide the Persian version of OLSES. Internal consistency 
of the Persian version was determined by the Cronbach alpha coefficient in a pilot study. Exploratory 
and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using SPSS version 20.0 and LISREL version 8.80.
RESULTS: The mean of the participants’ age was 21.40 ± 2.52 years, and most of them (56.4%) 
were female. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was determined as 0.74, 0.90, 0.75, and 0.89 for 
learning, time management, technology use subscales, and the whole scale, respectively. Exploratory 
factors analysis revealed the justifiability of factor analysis. In confirmatory factor analysis, most of 
the goodness of fit indices had an acceptable level.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study found that the Persian version of OLSES had good psychometric 
properties and can be used as a simple, valid, and reliable tool to assess students’ self‑efficacy 
related to the e‑learning environment.

Keywords

Distance learning
Iran
medical students
online learning
reliability
self‑efficacy
validity
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 12, Issue 4
April 2022
Pages 1-4

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