Development and Validation of an Attitude Scale towards Online Teaching and Learning for Higher Education Teachers.

The aim of this study is to develop an attitude scale towards online teaching and learning for higher education teachers. It included 687 participants (77 Professors, 67 Associate Professors and 543 Assistant Professors) from various colleges and Universities of India. This tool development was a part of research conducted to examine the preparedness of Indian higher education teachers during the period of lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic. After reviewing related literature, initially 37 items related with the attitude of teachers towards online education were framed. Later on, 11 items were modified and four were deleted as per the opinions of the experts. The draft scale consisting of 33 items was administered on teachers and data was collected with the help of Google forms. Item analysis was carried out using t-value and r-value. Reliability of scale was determined by using Cronbach Alpha value (0.88) and split-halt correlation (0.82). After item analysis, the scale items were reduced to 30 and four factors were established as a result of factor analysis (Principal Component Analysis). Psychometric scale analyses have shown that this scale is valid, reliable and thus can be used in the evaluation of teachers 'attitudes towards online teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]