Adult Learners’ Attitudes Toward the Use of Internet for Learning

Abstract

Internet occupies a predominant role in the present education system. Irrespective of the level of education (primary, secondary or higher education) internet usage is inevitable for the student in their learning process. According to John Chambers (1999), there are two fundamental equalizers in life – the internet and education. It is true that the internet is partial part of the current teaching and learning process. Presently all the educational institutions (academic and research) provided the internet facilities to the students and teachers (Kaur, 2008). The objectives of the study are to investigate adult learners’ attitudes toward the use of internet for learning and to identify the significant impact of demographic variables on adult learners’ attitudes. The research is based on primary data were collected from 50 adult learners living in Miri, Malaysia but they are studying in different educational institutions located in all over the country. The data interpretation was made by mean, standard deviation and ordinary least squares (OLS) technique (regression) to test the hypothesis. The result of the research revealed that the internet was an important tool for adult learners, the adult learners have positive attitudes toward the use of internet for learning, and there was a positive and non-significant impact of demographic factor (study institution) on adult learners’ attitude. Further the study revealed that there was a negative and non-significant impact of demographic factors (gender, age and program of study) of adult learners’ in usage of internet for their learning.

Keywords: adult learners, internet, learning attitude.