Effect of Digital Stress on Students’ Online Learning Readiness: University Students’ Standpoint

Digital stress has significant effect on students' online learning readiness. The main aim of this study was to examine university students' standpoint concerning effect of digital stress on their online learning readiness. Data were collected from 509 participants enrolled in two universities, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw who were selected randomly. A survey questionnaire, consisted of two scales, digital stress scale and online learning readiness scale were used to measure the perceptions of students. To analyze the collected data, Mean score, Standard Deviation, Pearson's correlation and Regression analysis were applied. Results of the study revealed that students strongly agreed that digital stress had an effect on their online learning readiness with mean score higher 4.00. All the four hypotheses of the study were accepted which indicate that mode of delivery (r=.960), comfort level (=.918), capacity to learn (r=.833), and learning atmosphere (r=.712) had strong effect on online learning readiness of students in the context of Pakistan. It is concluded that digital stress is a strong predictor of online learning readiness of university students. Policy makers and developers may focus on this important issue while developing policies or developing curriculum for online education. Further studies are recommended to test these results in other contexts. Since this study, was confined to Malakand region, researchers may investigate other variables such as gender, ethnic differences or region wise effect of the variables to have wider understanding of the issue.