ABSTRACT
This study seeks to investigate the use ICTs in the administration of higher institution. The study adopted Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) of mass communication. The research methodology used in this research is the survey research of which questionnaires were administered to 80 respondents in Delta State University, Abraka. The research shown that After realizing the levels ICT for administration, it is therefore imperative for the University authorities to train administrators and provide more ICT facilities with the required ICT facilities like computers, computer software, internet facilities and reliable databases to effectively use ICT at all levels, and constant supply of power as when needed for administration. Administrators must be undertaken to engender commitment to e-registration initiative and support for new ICT skills acquisition for effective implementation of online registration.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Today, many schools in Nigeria are faced with the developmental challenges of the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in terms of e-teaching and e-learning processes. In 2007, the Federal Ministry of Education created its ICT department and has since been collaborating with several government agencies and other stakeholders in the private sector to initiate ICT driven projects and programmes to affect all levels of education sector in Nigeria (Osakwe, 2012). Like every issue of development in the country, all universities in Nigeria are struggling to access the technology as a measure to ascertain academic excellent through teaching and learning.
In an attempt to globalize the educational sector, leaders of the South – South States in Nigeria namely Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, Edo and Delta (BRACED) are viewing education and human capacity development as critical to the overall development of the schools, the development of strategies for the enforcement of ICT driven programmes has become imperative. In this age of information explosion, one’s skill in processing and distribution of data using computer hardware and software, telecommunications, and digital electronics will largely determine one’s value in the work force. Computer literacy will likely have such impact on career opportunities in the future just as the ordinary or conventional literacy had in the past. Cheung and Huang (2005) emphasized the use of ICT as an effective teaching tool in university education as many university teachers now publish their course materials via the internet. They suggested that it is insufficient for only university to use ICT for good job combination leaving out the students’ ability to do same. Educational technologists have cited may reasons as to why an education system based on ICT can more effectively result in positive pedagogic outcomes than one based only on conventional techniques (Balanskat, Blainire and Kefala, 2006; Means et al, 1993; Roblyer and Edwards, 2000; Than, 2006 and Ting, 2005).
According to Osakwe (2012), acquisition, deployment and management of information technology resources and services for teaching depend on electricity. Studies have shown that poorly maintained equipment and poor network infrastructure are prominent obstacles to the integration of ICT tools in teaching. Poor technical equipment would make negative impact on teacher’s desire to integrate ICT tools in teaching all other subjects. Technological and science laboratories are run using electricity. Computers cannot operate without electricity even if all the equipment required are present. A number of teachers today have never use computers in their lives and they are terribly shy when they are confronted with this new technology and the terminology associated with using them. Some schools do not have them provided for their teachers and some teachers may not be economically buoyant to buy one for themselves. At the tertiary-level of education, Okhiria (2007) noted that National Universities Commission (NUC) in Nigeria has prescribed that there should be at least one computer to every four students and one PC to every two lecturers below the grade of lecturer I, one PC per senior lecturer and one notebook per reader/ professor. NUC has gone further to establish e-learning platforms fitted with twenty smart boards in twelve Federal universities for the promotion of the use of ICT in teaching and learning. Majority of the Nigerian universities have not achieved this recommended system ratio for their faculties, though some have made giant or notable strides in campus wide area networking and e-learning course deliveries. Institutions like Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and University of Nigeria, Nsukka boast of its best- developed ICT system in the country with a personal VSAT access to the internet and a campus wide intranet services. University of Jos which is blazing the trail for content development and e-learning in addition to the campus networking, (Liverpool et al, 2009). Very few of Public higher institutions in the country are capable of meeting the ICT needs of their staff and students. The question now is what happens to the rest institutions? Many university lecturers and students have to go to commercial cyber cafés in town before they have access to a computer that is internet connected or at best buy private models with which they are able to connect to the internet. The private universities seem to be better off since majority of them like Covenant University (CU), Afe Babalola University, American University of Nigeria (AAUN), etc have 24-hour internet connectivity in their campuses but the population of lecturers and students compared to public universities are few. At AAUN for instance, each student is provided a laptop with the cost factored into the fee structure. That of course will not be within the reach of many students.
1.2 statement of the problem
This digital divide between universities in the global North and South is deemed to be a result of differences in affordability, availability and accessibility of ICTs (AAU 2009). In scenarios where there has been some research output on the state of ICT use in the African context, this has been dominated by research from South Africa, Nigeria and Botswana in that order (Chiafie 2011). A summation of all the research output in this area reveals that only 9 % of it is done by African institutions (ibid).
Despite the rhetoric on this digital divide, Africa still lacks consolidated documentation of the ICT situation in the continent (Farrell and Shafika 2007). As a result, attempts by different stakeholders including donor agencies, the private sector, governments and civil societies to carry out surveys on the use of ICT are usually thwarted by the lack of crucial information or reliable data (ibid).
There are significant bodies of research relating to the obstacles of ICT integration in teaching and learning in the developed countries such as US and UK, but in the developing countries like Nigeria, especially at the university level, such publications are few and scanty in scope, if they exit at all. Whereas such publications are valuable information sources for countries which would like to improve and make a success on ICT tools integration in teaching and learning. The decision to make foray in this regard is therefore, apt and lessons learned can serve as useful guidelines for universities within the areas covered and the rest of the nation.
1.3 objective of the study
The main objective this study is to examine the use of ICT in the adminstration of higher institution. Specifically, the objective of this study are:
- To evaluate the problems hindering lecturers and students from using ICT in your university
- To examine the challenges associated with the use of ICT by lecturers and students in Nigeria Universities.
- To determine the use of ICT among lecturers and students enhance the quality teaching/learning in universities in BRACED States in Nigeria?
1.4 Research Questions
Three research questions were put forward namely:
- What are the problems hindering lecturers and students from using ICT in your university?
- What are the challenges associated with the use of ICT by lecturers and students in Nigeria Universities?
- How can the use of ICT among lecturers and students enhance the quality teaching
/learning in universities in BRACED States in Nigeria?
1.5 significance of the study
There are significant bodies of research relating to the obstacles of ICT integration in teaching and learning in the developed countries such as US and UK, but in the developing countries like Nigeria, especially at the university level, such publications are few and scanty in scope, if they exit at all. Whereas such publications are valuable information sources for countries which would like to improve and make a success on ICT tools integration in teaching and learning. The decision to make foray in this regard is therefore, apt and lessons learned can serve as useful guidelines for universities within the areas covered and the rest of the nation.
1.6 Scope/Limitation of the study
Owing to limited resources viz time and finances, the study is confined to a single faculty i.e. Delta State University, Abraka. It would have required a longer time to study the whole university and this also could have had a big financial implication. Narrowing the scope of the study was therefore a practical consideration. Secondly, the term “ICTs” has been used in its narrow sense to denote the use of computers and the internet. Even though there is more to ICT than the use of the latter two, the research does not, in any way, investigate how other forms of ICTs are used at the school. Lastly, the participants comprise of regular undergraduate students and fulltime lecturers only.
This research project had a number of limitations. At the outset, data collection during field work was ill-timed. The researcher travelled to Abraka to collect data at a time when students were pre-occupied with mid-semester assessment tests. It was not so easy to get students who, on their own volition, wanted to participate in the project as respondents. This, in part, informed the decision to use purposive sampling where only those who were deemed to have the information were approached through gate-openers. They also had to volunteer as volunteers are considered to have a huge advantage over non-volunteers (Kvale & Brinkmann 2008). On the other hand, faculty was busy marking students’ scripts and supervising the assessment tests and those who volunteered were mainly accessed through heads of different departments and through a special request from the faculty dean.
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