OFFICE APPLICATION SOFTWARE SKILLS NEEDED FOR EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT EDUCATION CURRICULUM IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA

Abstract

The study ascertained office application software skills needed for effective implementation of Office Technology and Management Education (OTME) curriculum in colleges of education in South-South, Nigeria. A research question guided the study. Two null hypotheses were formulated. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population comprised 234 business education lecturers in the nine public colleges of education in South-South, Nigeria. The entire population was studied without sampling because the size was not too large. The instrument for data collection was 21-item structured questionnaire. The instrument was validated by three experts. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument and value of 0.72 was obtained. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research question, while t-test and ANOVA were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that business education lecturers highly needed office application (software) skills for effective implementation of OTME curriculum in colleges of education in South-South, Nigeria. Gender and years of teaching experience did not significantly influence their mean ratings on needed office application (software) skills. Based on the findings, it was concluded that office application (software) skills listed in this study are needed by business education lecturers for effective implementation of OTME curriculum in colleges of education in South-South, Nigeria. Recommended among others, is that there should be constant training and re-training of OTME business education lecturers on the use of office application (software) for implementing the OTME curriculum.