Journal of Educational Sciences > Volume 6, No. 1, 1994

Factors Affecting Students’ Choices of Education Subjects as Elective Courses at King Saud University / Mostafa M. Metwally

University education in Arab countries has witnessed several developments such as the application of both elective and credit hour systems. paying attention to individual differences and giving a large degree of freedom to the students in choosing their subject matters.
This study aims at defining factors that influence the students' choices to study the education subjects as elective courses, to point out which of these subjects gained the students' interest and to examine the significance of sex. level of enrollment. and speciality on the respondents’ views.
The study comprises four sections: the first deals with its particulars. the second reviews the previous research in this respect. the third discusses the procedures of the empirical study. and the fourth section analyses the results and sets its conclusion and recommendations.
A questionnaire was answered by a random sample of 983 male and 561 female students representing nine colleges at King Saud University in Riyadh.
The study reveals that education subjects were preferred as elective courses. Both the foundations of Islamic education and the principles of educational research gained the students' interest. The study points out that raising the accumulative average. the acquisition of new experiences. the simplicity and excitation of educational subjects. and their style in assessment are the predominant factors behind choosing education subjects as elective courses. It also reveals that there are significant differences among the respondents' views because of their sex and speciality.