THE EFFECT OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING, ATTITUDE, AND SATISFACTION ON NOVICE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ONLINE LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

In the academic year 2020-2021, students who had been accepted onto a university in Turkiye began their studies with the use of emergency remote teaching (ERT). The aim of this study is to examine the causal relationship between academic achievement, online course satisfaction, attitudes towards online learning and knowledge sharing behaviors of these novice university students in terms of the emergency remote teaching process. This research was designed to make use of correlational research methods. The study group consisted of 437 freshmen students studying in the Faculty of Education at a public university in Turkiye. Research data were collected using the Knowledge Sharing Behavior scale, the Online Course Satisfaction scale, the Online Learning Attitude scale, and a learning achievement test. Research data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and path analysis. The results showed that general acceptance, knowledge receiving, individual awareness and perceived usefulness significantly affected online course satisfaction. On the other hand, knowledge giving and application effectiveness factors did not significantly affect online course satisfaction. It is noteworthy that individual awareness, which compares face-to-face teaching activities with ERT to identify the preferences and awareness of the students, had a negative impact on their satisfaction. Finally, it was determined that online course satisfaction had a significant but low-level effect on learning achievement. In order to increase student satisfaction with regard to the ERT process, it is recommended that the university makes the opportunities more visible and provide support for students’ acceptance of the process. Future avenues and precautions about designing the ERT courses have been suggested in light of the research findings.