The Mediating Role of Teachers' Ability on the Application of E-learning: A Theoretical Path Analysis Model

Today, e-learning plays colorful role a special place in human education. Although teachers are the major users of technology in education, the prerequisite infrastructure and the nature of the courses also have a special effect in the benefit of teachers from this educational opportunity. A review of the literature showed that the teacherschr('39') ability in e-learning can explain the relationship between these two factors and the application of e-learning. In so doing, this study endeavored to investigate the mediating role of teacherschr('39') ability on the relationship between educational facilities and the nature of courses in the use of e-learning based on faculty memberschr('39') views.

This cross-sectional study with the predictive correlation approach has was conducted in 85 faculty members of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2019. They expressed their views on the facilities, the nature of the courses, and the ability of the teacher and the application of e-learning in their educational group, based on the e-learning feasibility questionnaire. Then, the effects of the factors were evaluated using a path analysis model.

The results indicated that, contrary to the nature of the courses, e-learning facilities can directly predict the use of e-learning (β = 0.16, 95% confidence interval: -0.130 to 0.527). However, this effect was enhanced despite the mediating role of teacher empowerment, and the empowerment variable of professors as a relative mediator that underscored the theoretical model of the study (β = 0.26, 95% confidence interval: -0.003 to 0.459).

The findings revealed the importance of the mediating role of mediatorschr('39') ability to use e-learning. Therefore, the existence of e-learning facilities and the characteristics of the courses are not enough to predict the application of e-learning. Therefore, it is suggested that special attention should be paid to elevating the faculty members to develop e-learning in addition to providing infrastructure.