The Role of Familiarity with Distance Education and Online Attendance in the Relationship Between Motivation and Success in Online Courses

Abstract

As distance education has expanded over time, the need to examine the variables affecting students' learning outcomes in distance or hybrid learning environments has also increased. Accordingly, this study focused on academic motivation and familiarity with distance education, which are thought to influence the academic achievement of distance education students. The study also investigated the mediating roles of online attendance and familiarity with distance education in the relationship between academic motivation and achievement. This cross-sectional, explanatory correlational study examined 218 pre-service teachers in the Faculty of Education at a university. The study group consisted of 218 pre-service teachers at the Faculty of Education. The Academic Motivation Scale and the Attitude Scale toward Distance Education were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses were conducted to assess the assumptions of multivariate statistics. Subsequently, a multiple mediation analysis was performed using the macro developed by Hayes (2012) to examine the effects of the mediating variables. The findings indicate that students’ online attendance in and familiarity with distance education jointly mediate the relationship between academic motivation and achievement. Furthermore, when controlling for familiarity with distance learning, the online attendance variable continues to mediate this relationship, whereas familiarity with distance education does not show a significant mediating effect. Based on the research results, suggestions were made to enhance student motivation and promote consistent online attendance in distance education courses.