Extent of Instructional Use of E-Resources in Universities and Colleges of Education in the North-Central States of Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the extent of the Instructional use of e-resources in Universities and Colleges of Education in the North Central States of Nigeria; made up of Abuja, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger and Plateau states. It employed a descriptive survey, using 7 research questions, 7 research hypotheses and 30-items research questionnaire instrument. This was validated by experts in the field of Educational Technology, Measurement and Evaluation, Science Education and Curriculum and Instruction, trial tested by administering them to educators in the College of Education Oju and School of Education, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, which were excluded in the main study. The instruments reliability was determined using Cronbach Alpha, with an established reliability coefficient of 0.81. Six Universities and six Colleges of education were purposefully sampled for use, based on the established level of availability of e-resources. The population of the study was made up of 3,266 lecturers from Colleges of Education and 385 from the Schools or Faculties of Education in the Universities, giving a total of 3651 lecturers. The sample size of 1042 (260 from five Universities, 782 from five Colleges of Education) was proportionately determined using the Krejele and Morgan table of “determining sample size for research activities”. The instruments for data collection were a 30-item structured research questionnaire with sections A to D for Computer Assisted Instruction; Computer Enriched Instruction; instructional use of Internet Resources and Portable e-Resources respectively. A Focused Group Discussion (FGD) instrument was employed on the research outcome, to probe into the respondents’ subconscious feelings and motivations to capture the dynamic emotional process and socially desirable forms of behaviour which could have not been easily reduced to statistical evaluations and reported by items along each research question and hypothesis. It was discovered that CAI, CEI, Internet Resources and Portable e-Resources are moderately used in the area of study. And that status rank, gender and age have no influence on the e-resources use. Recommendations were made, including that; Government should (1) make policy that will direct the integration of e-resources in the learning process; (2) Provide adequate course wares or contract for their production in subject areas; (3) Review curriculum to integrate e-learning in the learning process; (4) Provide Internet RAIN at reduced cost, increased accessibility, larger bandwidth for instruction use; (5) set relevant committee to assess the extent of the negative effects Nigeria as a country stands to face for not fully embracing e-resources use in her educational system and recommend emergency measures to redeem the situation; (6) make ICT a line budget in all her yearly budget allocations; (7) Host e-learning Africa and other conferences to increase educators participation; Curriculum and Educational Technology specialist should develop appropriate format for e-learning andragogy and pedagogy.