Teachers’ perceived skills, challenges and attitudes towards distance education: A validity and reliability study

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a reliable and valid measurement tool to examine teachers' attitudes towards distance education and perceived distance education skills. The data of the study were collected from 2290 K-12 teachers. In the data analysis, reliability was calculated with stratified Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and for construct validity, EFA and CFA were performed. Bartlett and KMO tests were used for the suitability of the data for factor analysis. It was observed that the calculated correlations among the item and the total score for the 25-item trial form were above 0.20. As a result of the EFA, 7 items that loaded more than one factor, or with a factor loading less than 0.45 were excluded from the scale. Promax rotation revealed three factors with an eigenvalue greater than 1.00. The total explained variance of the final form of the scale (18 items) was found as 53.594%. The fit indices calculated in the confirmatory factor analysis (RMSEA = 0.053; CFI = 0.932; TLI = 0.918, SRMR = 0.055) confirmed the three-factor model. The results obtained showed that the model fits the data. The stratified alpha reliability for the whole scale was calculated as .848. The results of the study show that the scale can measure teachers’ perceived skills, challenges they face, and their attitudes towards distance education reliably and validly.

Keywords

• Distance education
• Attitudes towards distance education
• Challenges in distance education
• Perceived distance education skills
• Covid-19 pandemic

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