OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT EDUCATION STUDENTS’ SELF-EVALUATION OF ACQUIRED WORD PROCESSING AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES IN DELTA STATE

Abstract

The need for an enhanced word processing and database management competencies
acquisition by Office Technology and Management Education (OTME) students for
success in employment, necessitated this study. Two research questions guided the
study and two null hypotheses were tested. Descriptive survey research design was
adopted for the study. The population consisted of 98, 2016/2017 session final year
OTME students in all colleges of education in Delta State. The entire population was
studied without sampling as the size was small. A five-point rating scale questionnaire
containing 26 items was used for collecting data for the study. The instrument was
validated by three experts in the faculty of education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University,
Awka. The reliability of the instrument was established by administering it to 10
respondents from College of Education, Ekiadolor in Edo State. Using Cronbach
Alpha method, a reliability coefficient of 0.87 was obtained. Mean and standard
deviation were used to answer research questions and determine the closeness of
respondents’ views. While t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05level of
significance. Findings revealed that the students rated themselves to have acquired
word processing and database management competencies at moderate level and
gender did not significantly influence their ratings. Based on the findings, it was
concluded that more efforts were needed by the students, their lecturers and the
institution managements to ensure that students adequately acquire relevant
competencies in the two applications for them to be effective in carrying out their
professional responsibilities on graduation. It was, therefore, recommended among
others that OTME students should use computers instead of typewriters right from
their first year and that institutions managements should provide adequate number of
functional computers for use by the students.