Ict Facilities And It’s Impacts On The Training Of Office Technology Management Students In Tertiary Institution
Abstract
This study was on ICT facilities and its impacts on the training of office technology management student in tertiary institution. The total population for the study is 200 staff of University of uyo. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made HOD, senior lecturers, junior lecturers and ICT technologist were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies.
Chapter one
Introduction
1.1Background of the study
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education has been continuously linked to higher efficiency, higher productivity, and higher educational outcomes, including quality of cognitive, creative and innovative thinking. ICTs is said to enhance the quality of education in several ways: by increasing learner’s motivation and engagement and by facilitating the acquisition of basic skills (Wadi and Sonia, 2002, Adeosun, 2010). Rapid developments in ICTs have led to many changes in the responsibilities of the academics in tertiary institutions as the traditional methods of doing academic work are fast becoming inappropriate. Thus, ICT resources have been looked upon as a tool for lifting up the standard of education.
Milken Exchange on Education Technology (2011), defines ICT as a computer based tools used by people to work with the information and communication processing needs of an organization. It encompasses the computer hardware and software, the network and several other devices (video, audio, photography, camera etc) that convert information (text), images, sound, motion and so on into common digital form. ICT has a wider spectrum of applications with numerous relevance to polytechnics teaching and learning activities. ICT utilization is the presentation and distribution of instructional content through web environment (e-teaching) or system offering an integrated range of tools (stand-alone computer instruction, CD ROM amongst others) to support learning and communication. (Yusuf, 2005). Instructional service delivery has to do with teaching/learning activities that take place in the classrooms. Therefore, quality of instructional service delivery entails the extent of effectiveness to which lecturers carry out their classroom teaching /learning process.
According to Okebukola (2006), quality is judgment which determine the extent of preparation and efficiency of teaching / learning adequacy and accessibility of materials and facilities needed for effective teaching and learning, and how the teachers can cope with the challenges ahead of their job. The principal contribution of a university to a society turns on the quality of knowledge it generates, and the impacts, the habit of critical thought and problem solving it institutionalizes and inculcates in the graduates, and the value of openness and democratic governance it promotes and demonstrates. The easiest way to ascertain this contribution is the caliber and commitment of students to continuous improvement in learning, research and community interactions, the range and quality of the curriculum and pedagogy, the quality and extent of educational facilities, commitment to evaluation and review of the activities to seek continuous improvement (Sawyer, 2004; Liston, 2011)
The utilization of ICT in instructional service delivery among the students in Nigerian institutions has been more of the departmental affairs, rather than institution and these department are in sciences, medical and computer science where the synergy between research and learning is strongest, and the essential infrastructure for course development and delivery were most accessible (Bassey, Alaueywu and Udida, 2009), even at that, what was obtainable was the lowest aspect of ICT such as print, audio/video tapes and digital radios (World bank 2002).
The awareness of ICT started gathering momentum in universities, Akwa Ibom and Cross River State in 2004, when universities of Calabar entered into partnership with socket works to process student’s records in the aspect of registration and school charges. Thereafter, other universities follow suit and since then, the evolution of ICT as grown in leaps and bounds. To encourage this development, National universities Commission (NUC), the government agency responsible for registering and regulating universities have prescribed personal computer ownership as follows: 1pc to 2 lecturers below the rank of lecturer 1, 1pc per lecturer / senior lecturer, and 1 note book per professor/reader (Okhiria 2007). This is yet to be implement in the universities under study.
In polytechnic in Nigeria, the availability and utilization of computers had added the training of office technology and management students emerged as the need of human competences and material resources especially the availability of ICT facilities such as word processor, internet facilities like satellite disc, modern, computer private scanning, photocopiers, over head projectors, storage drive like flash, CD, video/ DVD, television.
This will enable the educators to train in Msword, excel, webpage, desktop publishing and database management. The availability and use requisite facilities are important for effective execution of any office task assigned and also for the survival of OTM programme. Invention of office equipment necessitate the growth in large enterprise and also a technological breakthrough. The office therefore, receive much on sophisticated office equipment in order to cope with the ever increasing roles in the organization. It seems however, that although the higher level of management might not make direct use of technology. The secretary, will. The future of office automatic for this job is providing the secretary with systems that meets the real need identified as being important, rather than the ones of typing and stenography that are thought to be important.
As against the traditional office, the modern office has a lot of activities to perform with the aid of computer and other modern office gadgets. These days uncountable organizations have installed these equipment secretaries are present to manipulate some of them in discharging their duties officially.
However, modern office equipment which act as improvement tools in the secretary’s job, arose from the numerous mathematical calculations done in office, and the use of the equipment by the secretary can result to a greater output than that of a secretary using manual equipment. Today, progressive organization are steadily moving into the area of paperless office which is characterized by the use of computers and their networks especially the internet. Therefore in modern office, emphasis is now being placed on skills for digital business transactions. This is because computer technology has brought about ways of conducting business in the form of electronic commerce, electronic banking. Electronic mail among others as indicated above, this as significantly the role of the secretary particularly in fully automated office. Office Technology and Management students in most cases do not seem to depend any longer on the traditional methods of collecting, sorting, processing and dissemination of information rather the computer and other complementary gadget are now being used to perform these functional in essence, it is required that office workers particularly secretaries should be able to acquire, make use of and operate most modern information and communication equipment.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
According to Adelahin (2009) Office Technology and Management came into being mostly as a result of the change in secretarial studies curriculum with more emphasis on ICT and management courses in order to enrich the knowledge of the students and equipment, then with the necessary skills needed in today’s office environment. It is however pertinent that some University students could not perform or utilize those ICT facilities during industrial training. Could it be due to non availability or incompetency of the training or poor students attitudes to ICT learning
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To identify the level of ICT competence possessed by Office Technology and Management lecturers in tertiary institution
- To determine Office Technology and Management students derive satisfaction in the level of ICT facilities.
- To determine the adequacy of ICT resources for use in teaching Office Technology and Management in tertiary institution
- To ascertain whether ICT resources available for teaching Office Technology and Management are utilized for teaching in tertiary institution
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
The following have been put forward for testing
H0: there is no adequacy of ICT resources for use in teaching Office Technology and Management in tertiary institution
H1: there is adequacy of ICT resources for use in teaching Office Technology and Management in tertiary institution.
H0: Office Technology and Management students do not derive satisfaction in the level of ICT facilities
H1: Office Technology and Management students derive satisfaction in the level of ICT facilities
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This research would serve as an indicator to employers so as to know the type of modern office equipment needed by the secretary that will be best for maximum efficiency and productivity of secretarial work and the entire organization. It would also serve as a means of ease workload of secretaries in office and bring about job efficiency to secretaries. Finally, business organization would appreciate the importance of computer in the advancement of secretarial practice and thus procure them.
SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The scope of the study covers ICT facilities and its impacts on the training of office technology management students in tertiary institution. The researcher encounters some constrain which limited the scope of the study;
- a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study
- b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Competences: Those practical skills needed to perform specific task in office. In this context, they refer to those practical skills which secretary supervisory personnel need in order to be able to perform specific task in the office.
Technology: The method use to get job done which involves the use of complex electronic equipment in the work place.
Computer Technology: The use of computer based technology in the storage processing, manipulation and retrieval of data in a modern day work environment.
Efficiency: The ability of people to do a work well and without waste of time or resources. Example, competent and efficient secretary.
Enhancement: Oxford advance learners describe enhancement as the way to increase or to improve further quality, value or status of something.
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