Student satisfaction with access and infrastructure in preparation for self-regulated online learning in South African rural Universities

Sequel to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions of learning: primary, secondary schools and universities across the world, regardless of their location have seen the urgent need to transit from onsite to online teaching. Meanwhile, many institutions of learning especially those in rural areas with limited infrastructures, and students are unprepared for such. This is envisaged to negatively impact the learning abilities of students. Hence, this study explored the acceptance and preparedness of students for self-regulated online learning, using a purposively selected South African Rural Higher Institution of Learning (SARHIL). Quantitative method was adopted for data collection in the study. Data was collected from 274 randomly selected undergraduates studying at the selected rural university. The statistical software SPSS version 25 was used to analyse the collected data using descriptive statistics. The finding of the study showed that students from the selected rural university are unprepared for self- regulated learning due to different factors and lack of support. The study recommends amongst others that students should be motivated using various means to embrace self-regulated learning especially as it concerns the current trend in the global world.