EXTENT OF AVAILABILITY AND UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES IN BUSINESS EDUCATION PROGRAMME OF COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN DELTA STATE

Abstract

The study examined the extent of availability and utilization of information and
communication technology resources in business teacher education programme of
colleges of education in Delta State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the
study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study
adopted descriptive survey design. The entire population of 114 business education
lecturers in all the four colleges of education in Delta State was used for the study
without sampling. Data was collected for the study through direct observation by
the researcher using NCCE benchmark and administration of a validated
questionnaire on the respondents. The reliability of the questionnaire was
established using Cronbach Alpha formula which yielded a reliability coefficient of
0.801. Frequency count and simple percentage were used to answer research
question one and mean and standard deviation were used to answer research
question two. t-test statistic was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of
significance. The findings of the study revealed that ICT resourcesas stipulated by
the benchmark of NCCE for business education programmes were not available in
colleges of education in Delta State. Business educators’ rarely utilized ICT
resources in business teacher education programmes in colleges of education in
Delta State. The study further disclosed that business educators in colleges of
education did not differ significantly in their mean ratings on the extent of
utilization of ICT resources in business education programmes based on
institutional ownership and location. The study concluded that the inadequacy and
low level of utilization of ICT resources by business educators will negatively
affected the technological competencies of business education students to succeed
and curve a niche of their own in the digitalized business world. It was
recommended among others that management of colleges of education should enter into partnership with ICT manufacturing organizations to assist in improving
the supply of ICT resources in business education programme. This is to enhance
business education students’ academic performance and boost the quality
assurance indices of the programme.