Geography Students’ Attitudes Toward Blended Learning

Abstract

This research aims to explore the attitudes of Geography Department students towards blended learning and to determine the extent to which these attitudes are influenced by gender and academic level. The researcher adopted a descriptive-analytical approach and used a questionnaire to measure attitudes, consisting of 40 items on a five-point Likert scale. The research population consisted of all students in the Geography Department at the College of Education, Al-Mustansiriya University, totaling 855 students. A stratified random sample of 555 students was selected, comprising 201 males and 354 females. The face validity of the instrument was verified by expert review, and its reliability was calculated, yielding a correlation coefficient of 0.80, which is considered good. Statistical analysis of the data using SPSS software yielded the following results: the t-test results showed statistically significant differences in students' attitudes towards blended learning attributable to gender, and the one-way ANOVA also showed statistically significant differences in students' attitudes towards education. The blended learning is attributed to the academic level variable. Geography students show a positive acceptance of blended learning. The results confirm that there is a substantial effect of the academic level variable on students' attitudes, just as the gender variable has a clear effect, as females excel in the positive attitude towards blended learning. Based on the previous conclusions, the researcher recommends: the necessity of adopting the blended learning model more broadly, with the design of courses to meet the needs of the specialization that combines the theoretical aspect and practical applications, and providing training programs for first-level students and males to enhance their digital skills and increase their positive interaction with the blended system.