UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING IN POLYTECHNICS IN THE SOUTH EASTERN GEOPOLITICAL ZONE OF NIGERIA

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the status and utilization of information and communication technologies in polytechnics in South Eastern States of Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of 120 Secretarial Studies teachers. Questionnaire was used as instrument for gathering data for the study. Data collected were analyzed using mean scores, percentage and frequency tables. The null hypothesis established for the study was tested using t-test for paired samples as reported from computer-generated analysis. Results of the study showed that: (a) most Information and communication technologies were not available meaning that rate of utilization of ICT is low. It was found that ICT posed very serious challenges to Secretarial Studies Teachers in the polytechnics. Given the present low utilization rate of ICT in Polytechnics, the administration of Polytechnic should encourage private sector funding of polytechnic education by appealing to industries that are the direct beneficiaries of polytechnic education to make donation to the polytechnics. (f) The Association of Business Education of Nigeria (ABEN) as its contribution to professional development should organize regular mandatory training programmes for members as is practice by other professional bodies.

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Publication: Author: Date published: March 1, 2011 Background Azuka,

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Psychologia O

Application of Information and Communication Technologies in education has thus far been in the area of distance education, which has been the subject of much experiment using various modalities in the past two decades. The most recent of such ICT application is that done by the National Open University of Nigeria. Some of the most successful efforts in use of Information and Communication Technologies in developing countries have been with interactive radio instruction in the formal classroom (in this approach "interactive" truly describes the relationship of the learners to the teacher, even though only one-way physical communication is employed). One-way television has been used to broadcast courses into classrooms, but this medium is limited by lack of interactivity. It is very important that these efforts to make effective use of Information and Communication Technologies in education foresee the human element. Although educational technology may enable a reduction in the teacher-to-learner ratio or in qualifications of on-site teachers, it cannot replace human decisions and interaction in the educational process. Specialized teaching and support staff will still be needed, and in fact will have to take on new responsibilities and learn new skills to serve as intermediaries and motivators, oversee student testing follow up on feedback, etc. As

long as learning is a human endeavor, there will always be a need for human "teachers" in some capacity. Statement of the Problem Several of the top rated business education research topics are directly related to utilization of technology in the teaching/ learning process. Business teachers are expected to integrate technology in the teaching/ learning process; they must use technology so that it supports instruction and enables learners to use technology as an important tool to meet their information and learning needs. Barriers to using technology in education include insufficient time, limited access and high costs, lack or vision or rationale for technology use, lack of training and support, and current assessment practices that may not reflect what has been learned with technology (Office of Technology Assessment, 1995). Researchers found that while there is increased attention to the need to prepare new teachers to use technology effectively, most new education graduates still have limited knowledge of how technology can be used in their professional activities. Fletcher and Deeds, (1991), noted that overall, teacher education programmes do not prepare graduates to use technology as a teaching tool. To ensure that future teachers can effectively integrate computers into instruction and assessment, a comprehensive set of guideline for general technology training for all teacher preparation program was developed in the United State by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) (1993) and adopted by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) effective September, 1994. These standards established necessary computer-related skill for individuals seeking initial certification or endorsements from teacher preparation programs. Competencies focus on the ability of teacher candidates to utilize and integrate a wide variety of educational computing and to increase teacher productivity. A review of literature published between 1990 and 2000 has revealed that the use of Information And Communication Technologies is growing in Africa, despite many

constraints. The assertion by Adeya (2001) that lack of ICT utilization by business teachers is a major handicap in tertiary institutions makes this study imperative Purpose of the Study The major purpose of this study was to determine the utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Secretarial studies in Polytechnics in SouthEastern State of Nigeria. Specifically the study sought to determine the extent of utilization of information and communication technologies in the Polytechnics and also to examine if there is any significant difference in utilization of information and communication technologies in the Federal and State polytechnics. To address the major purpose of this study the following research question were advanced: To what extent are information and communication technologies utilized in the polytechnics? Furthermore the following hypothesis was advanced for testing: There is no significant statistical difference in the opinion of Secretarial studies Teachers concerning the utilization of Information and Communication Technologies in the Federal and State Polytechnics. Research Design The researcher considered survey design as the most appropriate design because according to best and most appropriate since it is directed towards people, their opinions, attitudes and behaviours. The area covered by the present study included the five State owned and federally owned polytechnics located in the five South Eastern State of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo. Population of the Study The population of this study was made of 120 Secretarial studies teachers from the five polytechnics under study. There are three federal polytechnics and two state Polytechnics as shown in Table I. No sample was taken from the population since the number was considered not too large to be wholly included in the study. Validity/ Reliability of the Instrument

The face validity of the instrument was established through the utilization of a panel of four experts while the reliability correlation value for the instrument was obtained through the statistical application of Cronbach's homogeneity coefficient alpha. Van den Bergh (1987:43) suggested, "...an alpha value of at least more than 0.60 indicated a good reliability of scale". An alpha-value of at least 0.60 was the target number set as a goal for the acceptance of instrument. Through the study, it was found that an overall alpha value was 0.85. Therefore, the reliability of the instrument was acceptable for use as instrument to measure the utilization of information and communication technologies in polytechnics. Data analysis Data collected by the use of survey instrument was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The respondents were secretarial studies teachers in the polytechnics. The respondents were identified by conducting a pilot survey. This procedure generated a population of 120 Persons. A five-point Likert questionnaire consisting of 13 items was designed and sent to this population on 12th January 2006. A follow up letter was sent a week later. Forty-eight persons refused to participate in the survey. A total of 72 questionnaires were returned representing a gross return rate of 60 per cent. This return rate can be considered as quite good. However 8 of these questionnaires were not usable because respondents could not fill the questionnaires correctly. Therefore, 64 copies of the questionnaires obtained were found usable, thus indicating a net return rate of 53%. Such a data set was considered appropriate to the study of the utilization of information and communication technology in teaching in the secretarial studies in polytechnics in Nigeria. The null hypothesis formulated at the beginning of the study to validate the answers to the research question was tested. In testing the null hypothesis, the mean of the rating (x) on each item or statement in the questionnaire based on ownership of institution (Federal/ State) were used as the raw score to facilitate the t-test computer generated analysis. Results

As shown in Table 1 on the utilization of information and communication technology, our results indicated that 8% only of the secretarial studies teachers in the polytechnics reported that they always use ICT in teaching, while overwhelming 92% of the respondents reported that they do not use ICT in their instructional delivery. Analysis of Hypothesis Furthermore, on whether there is no significant statistical difference in the opinion of Secretarial studies teachers concerning the utilization of Information and Communication Technologies in the Federal and State Polytechnics, our results of the test of hypothesis using raw data in Table 2 showed that there is no significant difference as a result of the ownership of institution regarding the utilization of ICT in the polytechnics in the South Eastern states since the calculated t-value (.43) < Critical t-value (95*12) of 1.782 (Table 3). There is no significant statistical difference in the utilization of Information and communication technologies in the State and Federal Polytechnics, (p <. 05) Following the computer analysis carried out (Table 3), in testing the null hypothesis the following result was arrived at: Observed t-value = 0.08 Critical tab t (9511 2) = 1.782 Decision: Null hypothesis is accepted since calculated t-value (.43) < Critical tab t (95*12) = 1.782 Discussions of Findings Utilization of information and communication technologies in the Polytechnics While the study found ICT useful to learning and teaching, it was however found that the level of utilization of ICT was very low. The result of the study showed sufficient

utilization of ICT for production of letters. This is only one out of the 13 uses of ICT identified for this study. This finding does not deviate so much from earlier researches. For instance Thornburg (1999) found that only 13 out of 100 respondent schools could access the internet even when he observed that connectivity adds great value to schools' computer resources. Given this limitation, Thornburg (1999) further disclosed it was not surprising that 75% of the schools claimed that not more than 10% of their teachers are actually able to use the internet for teaching related activities. Conclusions and recommendations From the study it was concluded that Secretarial Studies teachers are unanimous in saying that there is low level of ICT utilization in polytechnics. This portends danger for the growth of secretarial profession and training. From the conclusion it was recommended that the National Board for Technical Education should as a matter of urgency provide ICT infrastructure to polytechnics in the south Eastern state. It was further recommended that the teacher training institutions should include in their programmes such computer applications as Internet Browsing for research purpose, PowerPoint for teaching presentation. Also it was recommended that the administration of polytechnics should spend more budgetary allocation to the acquisition ICT infrastructure to better equip the teachers and students. Given the present low utilization of ICT in polytechnics, the administration of polytechnic should encourage private public partnership in funding of polytechnic education since they are the direct beneficiaries of polytechnic education. Finally the Association of Business Education of Nigeria (ABEN) as its contribution to professional development should organize regular enrichment courses for members. This is done by similar organization such as the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN). References: Adeya, CN. (2001). Information and communication technologies in Africa: A review and selective annotated bibliography 1999-2000. Oxford. International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publication. The future of Information Technology in education. An ISTE Publication.

Fletcher, W. E., dd Deeds, J. P. 1991). Factors preventing Microcomputer use among secondary agriculture education Teachers in the United States. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual National Agricultural Education Research Meeting, Los Angels, 229237. International Society for Technology in Educati 1993). Curriculum guideline for accreditation of Educational computing and technology programs. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education. Office of Technology Assessment. (1995). Teachers and Technology: Making the Connection Washington D. C: U.S. Government Printing Office. Thornburg, David D. (1999). Technology in K- 12 education: Envisioning a Future", (http://www.air-du.org/forum /abthornburg.htm). Van den Bergh, R. (1987). Results of PATT research in France, Denmark and the Netherlands. In R. Coenen-van den Bergh (Ed), Report PATT Conference 2, 41-51. Author affiliation:

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