Problems of Using Computer as an Educational Resource by Teachers in Primary School in Owerri Municipal Council, Imo State

ABSTRACT

This research is on the problems of using computer as an educational resource by teachers in primary schools in Owerri  Municipal Council, Imo State. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The instrument for data collection was a researcher made questionnaire The 20 item instrument adopted the modified 4- point likert scale of SA, A, D, and SD. The sample was 914 students and teachers drawn from the population of 11,551 students  and 358 teachers from the public primary schools in Owerri Municipal Council, Imo State through  simple  random sampling technique. 4 research questions were analyzed. The instrument was validated by experts and reliability co-efficient of 0.93 established using  the split half method. Means were  used  to answer  research questions. It  was  found  among others that the  schools has  no web based  training  no interest  access, no enough  computers among  others. Computer in education helps teachers  to  demonstrate experiments  and concepts and provides opportunity  for individualization of learning. Poor power supply, low computer literacy level of teachers and students among others recommended among others hinders computer usage in school. Based on the finds, the researcher recommended  among  others that; provision of  ICT infrastructure to schools by  the government, efforts should be put to ensure a continuous steady  supply of electricity, seminars, workshops, conferences to be organized  for pre-service and in-service teachers and adequate  fund should be allocated for the development of ICTs in schools.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Education opens new horizons for the individual, releases new aspirations  and  develops new values. It strengthens competencies and develops  commitments. Education generates in an individual a critical     outlook on social and political  realities and sharpens the ability  for self-examination, self-monitoring  and  self-criticism. Amaechi, Anamonye, Onuoha and Okwu(2012), saw Education as a crucial tool for development in every country Furthermore,  it is an instrument for the realizations in development of man and modern society that various declarations on education  have been  made at the  modern society  that various declarations on  education  hav e been made  at the global level and Nigeria. Primary education is important to national development  because it builds on the educational gains of basic education with  a view to  preparing  students for higher learning in tertiary education  level. Primary education to today has come of age in this new information  revolution. From the time elementary school careers. Technology is now used throughout  the world for gathering information, keeping records, distance learning and  global collaboration for lifelong learning and work. Its pervasive  use cut  across almost all aspects of modern life including business, industry,  communication  and  entertainment warrants  continued  efforts on the part of educators  to positively prepare  students for participation in a technological world.

The rapid development in information communication and technologies (ICTs) has made tremendous changes in he twenty-first century, as well as  affected  the demand of modern societies. Recongnizing the  impact  of new  technologies on the workplace and everday life.  Today’s  educational  institutions try to restructure their  educational programs and classroom facilities  in order to minimize  the  teaching  and learning technology gap between developed and the developing countries. This restricting  process is  providing  learners with knowledge  of specific  subject  areas, to promote  meaningful  learning  and to  enhance proffestional  productivity (Tomei, 2005). The  use of ICTs in Nigeria schools and African countries  is generally  increasing and dramatically growing. However, while there is a great deal of knowledge about  how ICTs are being diffused and used in high schools in developed countries, how ICTs arebeing diffused and used in high schools in developed countries, there is not  much information on how  information  ICTs are being used by teachers not  students in Nigerian schools. There is also an assumption that  there are wide gaps in  the use of ICTs between rural and urban schools (Aduwa-Ogiegbaen & Iyamu,2005).

Over the Nigeria has undertaken educational reforms  aimed at rasing  the standard of education. Primary system  was introduced to  equip  their graduates  with technical  and  vocational skills while  preparing  students  for higher institions . in view of the infrastructural  challenges facing Nigeria’s  educational system, ICT use, especially computers and Internet, was introduced to increase access and to improve  the  relevance of  education. Currently the educational reform  has introduced  general  education  programe  of direct class teaching  through the internet. ICT are  resources that can  be  deployed  least five  levels of ICT use in education: Wbsites today  abound  where  instructors and  collaboration  and  students  can  visit in order to  obtain needed  information  and  interact. This is used in most distance education programs united  Nations  Institutions for Traning  and Research (UNITAR), for instance, uses  the internet as a medium  to offer traning programs to  thousands  of public  sector  workers  around the world. The computers have become motivating tools for teaching and learning in schools.

Computer  have been used  to create electronic libraries and  catalogues to   ehnace academic research work. According to Heeks (1999), “many libraries now provide online resources to facilitate learning and research electronically” Harkkarainen et al. (2000) reported that ICT is a  transformative  tool and its full  integration into the school system is necessary  to  prepare  students for the information society  tey will inherit. The  ministry  of Eduaction, science  and  sports implemented  education reforms in  September 2007 with  emphasis on  curricum, ICT. Currently, ICT has been incorporated into the school curriculum, beginning with  the pre-tertiary institiuions ICT has been  incorporated  into  the school curriculum,  timetable from primary to senior  high school (Aasmoah, 2008).

The Internet allows cost-effectively  information  delivery services  collaborative  and distance  educationmore  than  ever been imagined (Clyde, 1995; Todd,1997). The Internet has myriad websites to help teaches develop or  improve lesson plans, exchange ideas, obtain information, and  find  free  animations and  simulations to  traning, and  conference proceeding are published regularly on the web. Chat rooms or  forums may become a laboratory  for new  ideas. Online  study resources can also  provide interactive tools for effective way of  ascertaining  student’s  understanding  of concepts. Students also learn  when they work with  computers(Koert,2000).

From  the early 1990s, education stakeholders in Nigeria have  been concerned  about how teachers and students use computers in schools and how their  use supports learning. Teaching  use computers to write lesson plans, prepare materials for teaching, record and calculate student grades, and  communicate with other teacher. As  such, “computers have become a routine tool for helping teachers accomplish their professional work” (Becker, Ravitz,& wong, 1999). However, many teachers do not facilitate substantial student use of computers for learning activities(Becker, Ravitz,& Wong,1999).

Computer-based test are  easier to administer and  are quicker to mark.

Researh shows that  the use  of computers for  drill and  practice, and for  instructional delivery, combined with  traditional instruction, result  in increases in learning in  the  traditional curriculum and basic skills areas, as well as higher test scores in some subjects compared to traditional  instruction alone (Fouts, 2002).ICT-emhanced learning mobilized tools  for examination,  conclusion, and  analysis of information, providing a platform for student inquiry, analysis, and  construction of new information. Learners therefore  learn  as they do and  whenever appropriate, work on real-life problems in-depth, making learning less abstract and  more  relevant to the  learner’s  life situation  in this  way and in  contrast to memorization-based or rote learning, ICT-enhanced learning  promotes increased leaner engagement (Waston,2002).

Education policymakers in Nigeria have  hailed the introduction of ICT in Nigerian high  schools  as a remarkable step that will contribute  to knownledeg  product, communication and information sharing  among students and  teachers in  the school system. However, the  commitment has  government to the  provision of infrastructure for ICT policy implementation  has been minimal. Without  any direct government investments in  provision of ICT resources in  second  cycle schools, “NGOs and donor organizations in  particular, have extended ICT facilities to some schools mostly in urban communities”(Dankwa, 1997; parthemore, 2003). Parthemore  (2003)points out that many primary schools  in Nigeria can now boast of  computer laboratories through which  students are gaining  basic computer literacy. A number of these  schools  have  Internet capabilities, enabling students to deepen  their connection to the outside world.

The question to ask is how these students.

According to Haddad and Drexler (2002), an effective teaching /learning  process must stimulate intellectual  curiosity and offer a sense of enjoyment that will move  the students from  the passive role of recipients of information to the  active  role of builders of knowledge . Yet, engaging the leaner in this process  can be  the most challenging task for teachers. ICTs are effective instructional aids to engage  students in the learning process. As learning shifts from the  “teacher-centered model” to a “leaner-centered model”, the  teacher becomes less the sole voice of  authority and  the side”. The  teacher’s primary task becomes  to teach the students how to ask questions and pose problems,  formulate hypotheses, locate information  and critically assess the information found in relation  to the problems based. Students also learn  more quickly, demonstrate greater retention, and are better motivated to learn when  they work with  computers.

At the inception of the millennium, Nigeria’s education authorities embarked on a number of projects to introduce  ICTinto  the Nigeria education set up; especially at the basic and primary school levels. For instance, in the  middle of the 1990s , educational providers realized that Nigerian professional  could not complete  the global market  for jobs because  they were limited in  skill, especially  in the area of information of technology. Subsequently, the authorities incorporated the study of ICTs as part of the study of science.

Teachers  with pedagogical  proficiency who are ready and willing to transmit knowledge and support students to construct knowledge will normally  make  a difference in any learning    process. In this age of ICT           and it integration in  the educational system, the role of the teacher, just like in the traditional  classrooms, should not be  overlooked or underestimated. If teachers possess little knowledge  of ICT as is  the  case of most Nigerian teachers  then the (Boakye and Banini, 2008).

It is not just acquiring the knowledge of ICT that is important. Teachers need to understand  how to use ICT pedagogically. ICT used appropriately can contribute to the acquisition of skills, deepen learning and  contribute to the acquisition of skills needed for learning  all life –long  for working  in today’s job market (Tchombe  et al. 2008). However, teachers must have opportunities to develop requisite  aptitudes, be able to observe or experience constructive  learning, and be motivated. In most countries experience constructive learning, and be motivated. In most countries innovation is thought about, invited into educational practices, and pushed down the throats of teachers without warning or preparation (Maclure, 1997). To make innovations and reforms more meaningful, those  who will be most directly affected-in schools, this would be teachers, students, parents  and administrators –need to be part of this would be conception  and planning process.

This study therefore is on the problems of using computer as an educational resource by teachers in primary schools Etche LGA, Rivers State.

Statement of Problem

The integration of ICT in Nigerian school system is a major step in promoting innovation. Good educational policies are backed with well designed programs which for part of adequate political will on the part of government and educational institution authorities are ineffectively and inefficiently implemented. Thus has led to learners not being adequately exposed to those experiences that will guarantee the total development of their being. At present we have in global village. Around the globe the latest and most complex technology is the area of information and communication technology. The growth in on-line technology  and application  in education  have  brought  great transformation  in the world. The of ICT gadget has made teaching and learning less burdensome effective and result oriented by providing cyberspace for learning, avenue for sharing idea and information. The level of development in any society is usually determined by the quality and quantity  of knowledge in the various  spheres of human activity available  to and acquired by the  citizens. Knowledge is acquired and  sustained through  effective  information  and  communication  system based on  the  technology  level attained children  in any  country  who fail to use and master new technologies would definitely lack behind. However , the  educational system currently is  bedeviled  with myriads of problems  including lack of adequate  computers and other ICTs  tools  especially in rural  schools, poor Internet connections, inadequate manpower, and lack of coherent ICT policy framework.  Consequently, there are many  constraints in delivering the ICT to the  right  people at the  right  time. In  developing countries like Nigeria, there  is frequently a  shortage of qualified  ICT teachers, and lack of fund. The  rapid changes that have taken place all over the investigates on the problems of using computer as an educational resource  by teachers in primary schools  in owerri Municipal council, Imo state.

Scope of the study

This  study covers all the students in public primary schools in owerri Municipal council, Imo state. It is delimited  in finding out  the prospects and problems of the  performance of primary school students. The study sought of address some  variable  such  as; computer  devices  available  for the  teaching and learning in  primary schools, role of computer in teaching and learning, problems facing the use of  computer in teaching  and learning, strategies to be adopted to improve  the use of computer in school and the way forward.

Purpose of the study

The  main purpose of this study is to investigate the problems of using  computer as an  education resource by teachers in primary schools  in owerri Municipal council, Imo state. specifically, the study sought to:-

–   Ascertain the computer devices available for the teaching and learning in  primary schools

–  Examine the role of computer in  teaching and learning.

–  Find out  the problems facing  the use of computer in teaching  and  learning

–  Identify strategies  to be adopted  to improve  the use of  computer in  school

1.5 Significance  of the study 

The researcher hopes that the findings of the study will benefit the following bodies in the following ways;

The result of the study would be of immense benefits to the government. The results of the study would show the devices that are lacking in these institutions so that the government would supply them to the schools.

Schools now will increasingly use ICTs to reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of administration. The quality of education will be raised since routine repetitive tasks can be automated with the use of ICT infrastructure.

Through equipping the schools with ICT devices, the learners will have access to a wide range of information resources. This will also enable the teacher to manage a large class effectively and makes the tasks of teaching simplified.

The school administration will be informed of the state of ICT equipment for students’ and teachers’ use for instructional development purposes, whether they are adequate or in deficit. Due to the recommendations that will be made here, teaching large classes and accession of course materials will become a thing of the past.

Students in colleges of education also stand to benefit from the findings of the study when they will begin to interact with technology in the learning process in a way that on graduation, they too can use same in classroom/lesson de liveiy.

This study could be beneficial for student as well as for institutions. The valuable feedback from the students should help student to realize the benefits of internet in their education. Institutes can invest more in internet facilities to enhance the performance of their students and produce better results.

The revelations of the study may be useful for the school admimistrators and library authorities regarding the provision of better Internet facilities for a more efficient use of information sources and services on the Internet for their students.

It will assist in bringing to the fore the internet access challenges faced by the students with a view to guiding the Institution’s policies toward reducing the plight of their students.

Those in the business of providing internet would also be adequately informed of the available ICT opportunities for investment in Nigeria.

Findings from the study would have implications for teacher educators in colleges of education and universities in incorporating training in ICT-assisted strategy in teacher preparation programmes.

Finally, findings of this study will also benefit researchers by adding to the pool of information that already exists in this area. Researchers can therefore fall back on information gathered here by replicating this study in another setting.

1.6    Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated by the researcher to guide the study in line with the purpose of the study;

1. What are the computer devices available for the teaching and learning in primary schools?
2. What are the roles of computer in teaching and learning?
3. What are the problems facing the use of computer in teaching and learning?
4. What are the strategies to be adopted to improve the use of computer in school?

Pages:  71

Category: Project

Format:  Word & PDF

Chapters: 1-5

Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References