The Study of Students' Attitudes towards the Use of Internet in Education (Case Study: Kermanshah Azad University)

Introduction: Today, The use of the Internet in the university is a major issue. The purpose of this study was the study of students' attitudes towards the use of internet in education at Azad University Graduate Students in Kermanshah.Methods: The current research study done by a surveying method is a type of applied, descriptive and correlation research. The statistical population was the graduate students in Azad University of Kermanshah (N=996). Of those students 269 were selected based on the Morgan's Table and a stratified sampling method. The researchers tool was a questionnaire structured into five parts: the first part included the demographic features of the respondents as the independent variables the second part was the dependent variable section which included 20 questions about the students' attitudes in regards to the use of internet, other sections included the students' attitudes regarding internet as an instructional tool (4 question), internet as a research tool (8 questions), and internet as a communication tool (8 questions). The questionnaire's questions were validated by the experts' reviewing from both Azad University of Kermanshah and Bu Ali Sina University. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to assess the reliability of the questionnaire and it was 87 percent. In addition, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and Spearman correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data (P=0.05). Also it used SPSS software (Version19) for analysis.Results: The results showed that the students have suitable attitudes towards the use of the Internet in education. The findings of the Mann-Whitney test showed no significant difference between students who use computers and those who do not use personal computers. The Spearman correlation coefficient showed a significant correlation between Internet use and students' attitudes. In addition, a significant correlation was observed between the Internet as a source of research (rs=0.164, P= 0.036) and communication recourse (rs= 0.717, P= 0.000) with students' attitude. Conclusion: In general, it was found that students have a positive attitude towards the use of Internet in education, however a slightly lower positive attitude about the use of the Internet in education to use in research activities and communication tools.