Aboderin, Olukayode Solomon; W.Govender, Desmond (2019)

The priority for educational stakeholders worldwide is the quality of students' academic performance. The variables that contribute effectively to the academic performance of students at all educational levels have been an issue of interest to stakeholders in education, trainers, policy makers, administrators and researchers. The purpose of this study was to critically examine the factors influencing academic performance of distance e-learners in a Nigerian university. This study adopted a quantitative approach. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The study was conducted in four selected study centres of the university and a total of 1,025 participants completed the survey-based questionnaire. The researcher used ANOVA to determine the effects of each of the factors on academic performance and the data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings of this study indicated that there are seven factors which influence academic performance of distance e-learners. These are students' ICT literacy level, frequency of engagement with ICT, marital status, previous academic performance, hours spent on the Internet per day, hours spent on social media per day and family size. In addition, the findings indicated that family income and home background do not influence academic performance of distance e-learners. Based on the findings of the research, recommendations have been made which will assist Nigerian university policy makers and course developers with a view to improving the academic performance of distance e-learners.