Influence of Parents’ Socio-Economic Status on Undergraduates’ Attitude Towards Virtual Learning in Post Covid-19 Pandemic Era in a Nigerian Public University

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of parents’ socio-economic status on undergraduates’ attitude towards virtual learning in Covid-19 era in a Nigerian pubic university. Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study employed the survey research design. The targeted population was a total of 4,135 Undergraduates made up of 2020/21 session of 200 and 300 levels undergraduates of all the departments of the Faculty of Education in University of Benin. The sample size of 413 undergraduates, which consisted of 149 males and 264 females using multistage sampling procedure. Purposive sampling was used to select Year 2 and year 3 Undergraduates while stratified random sampling technique was adopted to divide the population into male and female subgroups as well 200 and 300 levels undergraduates’ subgroups. The Virtual Learning Attitude Questionnaire (VLAQ) was administered to the sample. The instrument was validated by three experts in the Department of Educational Evaluation and Counselling Psychology (EECP). The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach alpha statistics which yielded a 0.84 coefficient. The descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation and the inferential statistics of Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient and Fisher-Z test of difference were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that Parents’ Socio-Economic Status has significant relationship with undergraduates’ attitude towards virtual learning in Covid-19 era in a Nigerian Public University while it revealed no significant difference in the relationship between parents’ socio-economic status and undergraduates’ attitude towards virtual learning by age. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that undergraduates’ attitude towards virtual learning, strongly correlate with their parents’ socio-economic status and in this regard, it was recommended that Guidance and Counselling services should be extended to parents/guardians, for them to understand the usefulness of effective communication skills in behaviour modification and using same to assist their children in developing the right attitude towards technological learning.

Keywords: Parents’ socio-economic status, Undergraduates’ attitude, Virtual learning and Post covid-19 pandemic