STUDYING THE ATTITUDES OF AGRICULTURAL FACULTY MEMBERS TOWARDS DISTANCE EDUCATION

This descriptive survey research was undertaken to study the attitudes of agricultural faculty members towards distance education. The statistical population of the study consisted of all the faculty members of agricultural colleges of Shiraz and Ferdowsi Mashhad universities (N=180). According to Krejcie & Morgan table, a sample of 123 persons was selected using the stratified random sampling method (colleges as strata). Data collected using a mailed questionnaire that was validated by a panel of experts and the reliability index was established by Cronbach alpha's coefficient. The results revealed that more than half of the agricultural faculty members had moderate familiarity with distance education. Also, the results indicated that agricultural faculty members had a positive attitude towards distance education. Finally, agricultural faculty members ranked time as the primary barrier to using instructional technology in distance education.