The Effects of Information Literacy, Self-directed Learning, Critical Thinking, and Academic Self-efficacy on Academic Performance of Agricultural Students

Academic performance of students is one of the main success indicators of academic activities in higher education systems. Much of the education systems' efforts are aimed at achieving high academic performance. In this regard, the main purpose of present study was to analyze the effects of information literacy, self-directed learning, critical thinking, and academic self-efficacy on academic performance of agricultural higher education students. This research is an applied study. The statistical population was agricultural students of Iran public universities (N=236973). From whom 386 students were selected as a sample through stratified random sampling method. Research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire which its validity confirmed by a group of Shiraz University's experts in the field of "agricultural extension and education" and "educational sciences". Ordinal theta coefficients demonstrated an acceptable reliability for the research tool (θ=0.71-0.78). The results of path analysis showed that the four variables self-directed learning, information literacy, academic self-efficacy, and critical thinking skills had significant positive effects on academic performance of agricultural students. Furthermore, the independent variables could account for 35.8 per cent of the variance of academic performance of agricultural students. Finally agricultural universities and colleges were recommended to make changes in their educational processes in order to increase academic performance of students.