Extent of faculty members' use of internet in the University of Benin, Nigeria.

This study investigated the extent faculty members in the University of Benin, Benin City. Nigeria, use internet services for instructional purposes. The study set out to find out the most popular areas of internet usage among faculty members and to determine the role of gender in such usage. A questionnaire made up of 18 Likert-type items, were distributed to 300 faculty members and 258 usable copies of the questionnaire were returned and used for the study. Results revealed that 13 of the items were significant as the most recurring internet usages among faculty members. The most popular internet uses were in writing and publication of journal articles. word processing, searching for relevant instructional materials, accessing of reference materials and the use of internet in courses. The data did not find any significant difference between male and female in internet usage.

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There is a universal recognition of the need to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education in this era of globalization where the free flow of information via satellite and the internet holds sway in the global information dissemination of knowledge. Integrating ICT into teaching and learning is quite daunting, complex and tasking. On the other hand, the National University Commission (NUC), the regulatory body for Nigeria's University System, took a step further sometime ago towards making the ivory towers computer literate. The NUC made it clear that Nigeria's educational system, particularly the universities, must embrace ICT to make them competitive in the international global systems. In a workshop on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) organized for ICT managers from the universities across the country in December 2003, the chairman, House of Representative Committee on Education made it clear that Nigerian universities have no alternative than to embrace ICT in order to assert themselves and maintain global competitiveness. He said:

   Like their counterparts in the western
   world, they should embark on massive
   implementation and commissioning of
   campus-wide local area networks, digitization
   of library materials, computerization
   of Management Information system,
   aggressive e-learning programme and
   enabled internet connectivity, which
   is the only physical evidence of your
   membership of global knowledge society
   (The Guardian: 45).

There is no doubt that ICT can play significant role in the orderly development and management of Universities. It is in realization of this fact that the University of Benin has invested heavily in acquiring ICT in the past five years to support teaching and learning. During this period, the university has initiated several IT projects such as UB Technologies which has extended internet services to the immediate university community. Also, the university has computerized several of its operations such as students enrolment, course registration, payroll and widespread used of information and technology in teaching and learning. In fact, most of the offices of academic staff in the university are linked to the internet and lecturers are embracing the culture of ICT revolution in order to assert themselves and maintain global competitiveness.

The research described in this paper set out to find and examine how ICT use was permeating a whole university and being implemented as a tool used by lecturers for teaching and learning across the curriculum. The reports in this paper focused on a single case of a university, where ICT is used for teaching and learning in all the faculties. Applications of Information and Communication Technologies need to be evaluated so that stakeholders, potential users and decision makers can be fully informed. Research on the application of the internet in teaching and learning is growing and its contribution to the promotion of knowledge in the educational setting can fully be ascertained through adequate research. For instance, the works of Dryly, (1994) Gallo and Horton (1994), Bruce. (1995) and Fairy and Higgs (1997) who all studied different aspects of ICT implementation for education purposes were of particular relevance.

However, some researches such as those of Tearless (2003); Rainbow and Sadler-Smith (2003) and Abdelraheem and Musawi (2003) have shown that ICT figured increasingly as a delivery mode for secondary, undergraduate, postgraduate and professional development education. Cravener (1999) has indicated that there is increasing faculty comfort with the use of ICT for instructional purposes which have consequently improved effectiveness of online teaching. Bailey and Cotler (1994) have indicated that the internet is a cost-effective strategy for providing learning improvements for students. The internet has become a potential valuable tool for distance education. The internet has also become an important tool in the creation of a collaborative professional culture among faculty members and also improves students' opportunities for interaction with staff (Abdelraheen and ALMusawi, 2003).

The use of the internet is not widespread in educational institutions in Nigeria. According to Okebukola (1997) the computer is not yet part of classroom technology in 90% public schools in Nigeria. Anao (2003), indicated that only the University of Benin and few others among the over 50 universities in Nigeria are linked to the internet and using ICT for educational purposes.

Statement of the Problem

As computer has become an integral part of modern education, it has also become possible to create ubiquitous interactive intelligent information, knowledge and communication systems within the Nigerian university system. The need for the development of ICT curricula has become a strategic imperative for the nation's higher education system in order to become competitive in the market place of ideas and knowledge. It has been ascertained that computer is used in few educational institutions in Nigeria (Okebukola, 1997) and Anao (2003). However, few higher education institutions have embraced ICT. Among the few institutions is the University of Benin, a first generation university established in 1970. In a knowledge-driven society, the university has acquired ICT facilities for the improvement of teaching and learning.

The purpose of this study therefore is to investigate the extent to which faculty members in the University of Benin use internet services for instructional purposes. Though there is dearth of research on the use of internet services in higher education in Nigeria, research elsewhere has indicated that various categories of faculty members are using internet for various educational purposes. For instance, Becker (2000) found that teachers in their first few years of teaching are the ones more likely to use internet professionally than more experienced teachers. Naquin (2000) also indicated that older teachers were less enthusiastic in using ICT than the younger ones. Cohen (1995) found that computer mediated communication is used often by faculty members in sciences followed by the social science faculty members. Dennis and Espinoza (1997) found that technology and business faculty members were the most experienced with computers and required their students to use the internet. They also revealed that teachers in education faculty were the least experienced with computers.

The University of Benin was established in 1970. It currently has ten Faculties. The university has linked the faculties to the internet to help teachers used technology for instructional purposes. However, it is one thing to have access to instructional technology facilities; it is quite another matter to utilize them for teaching. Norton et al (2000) and Selwyn (2000) have observed that even in the parts of the world where access to the computer in the school is not a problem, it can be observed that their use is not as common as would be appropriated.

The problem investigated in this study, therefore, is, do faculty members use the internet for instructional purposes? The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which faculty members in the university of Benin, utilize internet services for teaching and learning. The following research questions are formulated to guide the study:

1. What are the most recurring internet uses?

2. Is there statistical difference in regard to faculty members' responses according to gender?

Methodology

The research utilized an interpretive case study method. The data collection instrument was the questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed by the researchers by generating a list of possible uses of the internet for teaching and learning derived from extensive study of relevant literature. Likert-type scaled items were chosen for use since the interest in the study centered on the extent respondents frequently use internet services for academic purposes. The face validity of the instrument was calculated by giving it to senior faculty referees in the fields of educational psychology, curriculum and instruction, and instructional technology.

The list originally consisted of 25 items, but the experts made some modifications and reduced the items to 18. The 18 items were found to be the most significant uses of internet for classroom application in a developing country like Nigeria. The reliability co-efficient was measured by using Cronbach Alpha and it was found to be 0.82. The questionnaire consisted of two sections. The first section required demographic information and the second section was composed of Likert-type questionnaire and the Likert-scale options required the teachers to indicate the frequency they use the internet for various instructional purposes on a five-point level of very frequently (5), frequently (4), occasionally (3), seldom (2) and never (1). A significant mean of 3.0 was established for the items. This was based on the calculation of 5+4+3+2+1 = 10/5 = 3. This meant any mean equal to or greater than 3.0 showed the internet was used fairly well for such item. Any item with a mean less than 3.0 was regarded as rarely used. The items in the questionnaire were derived from extensive review of literature.

Population and Sample

The population used in this study was made up of faculty members from all the ten faculties in the University of Benin. The University has 918 academic staff on its payroll as at 2004. A total of 300 of these were randomly selected from comprehensive lists in the faculties and copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the selected sample. The participants are described in terms of faculty affiliation, sex, experience and academic rank. Out of the 300 questionnaire distributed, a total of 258 usable copies were completed and returned. These were used for the study. Table I showed the participants' frequencies, college affiliation and sex.

Statistical Analysis

The independent variable in this study is the instructional uses of internet as measured by faculty responses to the items in the questionnaire while the independent variables are faculties and gender. The statistical measures used in data analysis were means, standard deviation and t-test.

Results and Discussion

The first research question in this study is aimed at investigating the most recurring internet uses among faculty members in the University of Benin. Since the questionnaire's Likert scale comprises five-response ratings, a theoretical mean value of 3.0 was set as a criterion to judge the means. From table 2 below, it was apparent that five items were located below the predetermined theoretical mean value. Table 2 below showed how the items were rated.

Item 13 "searching lot journal to publish my articles" was the top rated item. The reason that may be attributed to this is the "publish or perish" philosophy of the life of academics. In the University of Benin, the major criterion for promotion is the number of academic publications faculty members have in reputable journals. Some of the articles are expected to appear in foreign journals. It is no surprise at all that the use of the internet by faculty members to search for journals to publish their articles is the top rated item.

Item 3 "using internet to write academic articles for publication" is the second top rated item. The rating of this item as the second most important internet usage is also not a surprise. Most faculty members yearn for quick promotion and since a major criterion for rapid promotion has to do with the number of journal articles published, faculty members are pre-occupied with writing regularly to gain promotion.

The use of internet "For word processing and essay report" which is item 9 on the questionnaire was the third top rated item. In the past two to three years, offices, departments and faculties have been provided with computers to replace manual and electric typewriters which have been in use for many years in the University of Benin. This probably account for the popularity of the computers for word processing. The university has, from time to time, provided training for faculty members and various categories of workers in the diverse areas of computer technology hence the frequent use of computers for word processing.

Item 2 "I use internet to find materials for instruction/lectures" was rated the fourth most popular usage of the internet. The reason for this item significance can be attributed to the fact that the University has been equipped with computers and other accessories and all departments and faculty members' offices linked to the World Wide Web. This has made it possible to gain access to relevant materials in the information super highway. The above reasons may also be use to explain the "use of the internet to access reference materials", item 7 which is the fifth top rated item. Faculty members have access to on-line library tools relevant to their areas of specialization and research. The ability to use the internet to access reference materials will depend on faculty members' ability to select the most appropriate tools which are relevant to the lessons and research objectives.

Item 1 "I use internet in courses" was rated as the sixth most popular usage of the internet by faculty members. Bailey and Cotler (1994) and Abdelraheem and Al Musawi (2003) asserted that faculty members are most concerned with the use of internet to update their students' knowledge with new course information, techniques and innovation. Watt (2000) ascertained that the internet is the major research source of current information that could be used to enrich faculty members' research abilities and also to provide students with relevant materials in courses. There is no doubt that faculty members in the University of Benin may have been spurred into more resourcefulness in their daily teaching activities due to the facts above.

The seventh most popular internet usage was "using internet as individual learning tools" which is item 6. This finding corroborates that of Bailey and Cotler (1994), and Cravener (1999) which emphasizes the importance of the internet in the professional development of faculty members, researchers and even students. The computer and internet provide ample opportunity for individualized learning activities and specific guidelines for such usage may be obtained in the websites.

The eighth most popular internet usage was item 10 "To download ready-made curricular materials from the websites". There is no doubt that there is abundance of relevant and up-to-date curricular materials of various diversities on the internet waiting to be tapped and utilized by resourceful faculty members. It is no surprise that faculty members in the University of Benin are already drinking from the fountain of knowledge available in the internet. Ready-made curricular materials are the easiest and fastest way for faculty members, especially those teaching new courses, to get relevant and latest information for instructional purposes.

Item 8 "To enrich textbooks" is the ninth top rated usage of the internet. For so many years, faculty members have depended so much on old textbooks in their instructional activities. Because it takes such a long time to publish a book and latest information in a particular discipline may not be available in such books, the use of the internet to enrich textbooks becomes of great relevance.

Item 15 "To conduct academic research to solve problems" was the tenth popular usage of the internet. Research remains the major bedrock on which academic efforts are rested. Through research, new facts are discovered and new ideas are tested. This is what university education stands for and when faculty members use the internet for research to solve academic problems, they add to the repertoire of academic.

It is significant to note that faculty members use the internet for other purposes such as, to e-mail friends and fellow teachers, to gain the latest knowledge in e-learning, and to develop professional competence in relevant discipline.

The use of the internet for simulation of classroom activities, to provide students with feedback and to improve students' skills in searching for information were not found to be significant. The reason for this may not be far fetched. First, from the findings above, it is clear that faculty members' use of internet is mainly limited to seeking information. Second, faculty members are only recently being trained to use information and Communication Technology, and there is room for improvement. Third, students currently have limited access to computers and internet and only restricted to registration of their courses via the internet. There are currently no large pools of micro processing laboratory and digital laboratory that can provide easy access for the more than 40,000 students in the university.

Internet Uses According to Gender

To investigate the second research question which sort to find the differences between male and female faculty members usage of the internet, the t-test was utilized. This is shown in table 3 below;

From Table 3, it can be concluded that the calculated t-value is not statistically significant at 0.05. The implication of this is that the responses of the male and female faculty members to internet usage do not differ. The conclusion here is that gender played no significant role in internet usage among faculty members in the University of Benin.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that faculty members at the University of Benin have embrace information and communication technology as part of their daily teaching assignments. Though it seems clear that faculty members may be pre-occupied with self-interest, such as promotion, it is significant to note that all are working in all curriculum areas using ICT to enhance teaching and learning. Since a major criterion for evaluating teachers for promotion purposes required that faculty members publish certain number of articles in reputable journals, it is no surprise that writing journal articles and searching for journals to publish then become a major pre-occupation of the teachers. Such teacher evaluation procedure has been criticized for assessing elements which are not too relevant to teaching for failure to take the classroom context into consideration. Teacher evaluation procedures have also been criticized for not being explicit about underlying assumptions about teaching and good teaching (Dwyer, 1994 and Wolf, 1995).

In as much as publishing journal articles by faculty members is a necessary requirement for advancement in position, it should not be the major priority or criterion. It is important that other criteria such as instructional skills of faculty members, their ability to collaborate on tasks of teaching, ability to use a repertoire of teaching strategies and students' input in the evaluation procedure should be evolved.

Finally, though most of the items in the questionnaire recorded significant mean of 3.0, with the highest being 3.8643, this does not really depict frequent or regular usage of the internet by faculty members. It only shows that most faculty members use the internet occasionally in their instructional/academic activities.

References

Abdelraheem A. and AL Musawi, A. (2003) Instructional uses of internet services by Sultan Qaboos University faculty members (Part I). International Journal of Instructional Media, 30(1), 45-49.

Anao, A.R. (2003). Society, knowledge incubation and management. The Guardian Newspapers Nigeria Limited, November 11.

Bailey, E. and Cotler, M. (1994). Teaching via internet. Communication Education, 43(2), 184-193.

Becket, H. (2000). Internet use by Teachers. http://ww.crito.uci.edu/TLC/Findings/Internetuses/st.Artspage.htm.

Bruce, F. (1995). A Methodology for Researching AAR NET. Australia Academic & Research Libraries, 26(2), 78-85.

Cohen, J. (1995). Computer mediated communication and publication among faculty in association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) institution. Ph.D. Dissertation SUNY, Buffalo.

Cravener, E (1999). Piloting the psychosocial mode of faculty development, http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/default.asp? show = article & id = 563.

Dwyer, C.A. (1994). Criteria for performance-based teacher assessment: Validity, standards and issues. Journal of Personnel Evaluation, 8(2), 135-150.

Dyrli, O. (1994). Riding the internet school bus: Place to visit and things to do. Technology Learning, 15(2), 32-38.

Fabry, D. and Higgs, J. (1997). Barriers to effective use of technology in education. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 17(4), 385-395.

Gallo, M. and Horton P. (1994). Assessing the effects on high school teachers of direct and unrestricted access to the internet: A case study of an East Central Florida High School. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(4), 17-39.

The Guardian Newspapers Limited (2003). NUC boss. others stress need for ICT growth in versities, December 9.

Naquin, D. (2000). The integration of technology al Loudoun campus, northern Virginia community college: A faculty survey, Inquiry, 56-65.

Norton, S. Microbial, C.J. and Cooper. T.J. (2000). Exploring secondary mathematics teachers' reasons for not using computers in their teaching: Five case studies. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 33(1), 87.

Okebukola, P. (1997). Old, new and current technology in education. UNESCO Africa, 14(15), 7-18.

Rainbow, S.W. and Saddler-Smith (2003). Attitudes to computer assisted learning amongst business and management students. British Journal of Educational Technology; 34(5), 615-524.

Selwyn, N (2000). Why the computer is not dominating schools: A failure of policy or failure of practice. Cambridge Journal of Education, 29(1), 77.

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Miss Stella Isah, Assistant Lecturer and Dr. Samuel E. O. Aduwa-Ogiegbaen, Senior Lecturer, Department of Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies, Department of Education, Benin City, Nigeria.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Samuel E. O. Aduwa-Ogiegbaen, Senior Lecturer, Department of Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies, Department of Education, Benin City, Nigeria; Email: [e-mail]

Table 1

Frequencies and Percentages for Faculty Affiliation and Sex

Independent variables   Type             Frequency   Percent

Faculty                 Agriculture      27          10.5
                        Arts             21           8.1
                        Dentistry        7            2.7
                        Education        37          14.3
                        Engineering      28          10.9
                        Law              26          10.1
                        Medicine         26          10.1
                        Pharmacy         24           9.3
                        Science          30          11.6
                        Social Science   32          12.4
                        Male             190         73.6

Sex                     Female           68          26.4

Table 2

Means and Standard Deviations of Lectureres' Responses to
Items on FequencY of Internet Usage

     Internet Users                                   N       Mean

1    I use internet in courses                        258     3.3953
2    I use internet to find materials
     for instruction/ lectures.                       258     3.4419
3    Using internet to write academic
     articles for publication.                        258     3.6318
4    Using internet to exchange ideas
     with other teachers.                             258     2.8062
5    For developing and improving
     students' skills in searching                    258     2.8178
     for information.
6    Using internet as individual                     258     3.3178
     learning tools.
7    Using internet to access                         258     3.4419
     reference materials.
8    To enrich textbooks.                             258     3.2287
9    For word processing and essay report.            258     3.6047
10   To download ready made curricular
     materials from the websites.                     258     3.2674
11   For simulation of classroom activities.          258     2.1473
12   To provide students with feedback.               258     2.2054
13   Searching for journals to publish my articles.   258     3.8643
14   To e-mail friends and fellow teachers.           258     3.1434
15   To conduct academic research to solve
     problems                                         258     3.1783
16   I use internet for professional
     development in my area.                          258     3.0581
17   Using internet to produce my own
     instructional materials.                         258     2.9457
18   To gain the leatest knowledge in e learning      258     3.0969

     Internet Users                                   SD      Rank

1    I use internet in courses                        .7931   6
2    I use internet to find materials
     for instruction/ lectures.                       .7881   4
3    Using internet to write academic
     articles for publication.                        .7741   2
4    Using internet to exchange ideas
     with other teachers.                             .997    16
5    For developing and improving
     students' skills in searching                    .9134   15
     for information.
6    Using internet as individual                     .8995   7
     learning tools.
7    Using internet to access                         .859
     reference materials.                                     5
8    To enrich textbooks.                             .8632   9
9    For word processing and essay report.            .8636   3
10   To download ready made curricular
     materials from the websites.                     .8701   8
11   For simulation of classroom activities.          .9871   18
12   To provide students with feedback.               .9865   17
13   Searching for journals to publish my articles.   .8694   1
14   To e-mail friends and fellow teachers.           .0357   11
15   To conduct academic research to solve
     problems                                         .9163   10
16   I use internet for professional
     development in my area.                          .9128   12
17   Using internet to produce my own
     instructional materials.                         .8067   14
18   To gain the latest knowledge in e learning       .8922   13

Table 3

T-test Statistic on Internet Usage Based on Gender

                                              Equality of   Sig.
           Sex      N     Mean      SD        Means (t)     (2-tailed)

Internet   Male     190   56.8421   11.4447   .829          .408

Usage      Female   68    55.5000   10.9969