THE EFFECT OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT ON OTME COURSES TEACHING AND LEARNING IN NIGERIAN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION
Abstract
This study looked at the impact of technological advancement on the teaching and learning of OTME courses in Nigerian colleges of education. The study’s total population is 200 staff members from the College of Education in Abu Dhabi, who were chosen at random.
The researcher collected data using questionnaires as the instrument. This study used a descriptive survey research design. The study included 133 respondents, who included department heads, secretaries, senior lecturers, and junior lecturers. The collected data was organized into tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies.
chapter One
Introduction
1.1The Study’s Background
Business education is concerned with preparing students for gainful employment in the labor force. At the secondary school level, business is taught as Shorthand, Typewriting, Office Practice, Commerce, Book-keeping, for the Junior Secondary School and Economics, Financial Accounting, Shorthand, Typewriting, and Business Management for the Senior Secondary School. Colleges of Education in Nigeria offer a three-year course in Business Education, while Universities and Polytechnics in Nigeria offer a four-year course in Office Technology and Management.
According to Amoor and Udoh (2008), business education plays an important role in economic development by providing learners with knowledge and skills that enable them to adequately impart knowledge to others, as well as handle sophisticated office technologies and information systems.
The primary goal of business education is to produce competent, skilled, and dynamic business educators, office administrators, businessmen and women who can compete effectively in the workplace (Odunaike & Amuda, 2008). Office Technology and Management (OTM) is a term that was coined to replace secretarial studies, as they were formally known. Okoro and Amagoh (2008) define it as an efficient, effective, productive, and functional education that leads to self-employment, self-reliance, paid employment, and, ultimately, self-actualization.
According to Baba and Akaraha (2012), it is aimed at acquiring appropriate skills, abilities, and competencies, both mental and physical, as equipment for individuals to live and contribute to the development of society. The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) designed the Office Technology and Management (OTM) Programme to replace the Secretarial Studies Programme, which had been in operation since 1989.
According to 4 NBTE (2006) Curriculum, the program was created to provide graduates with vocational skills in OTM as well as socio-psychological work skills for employment in a variety of fields of endeavor. The society in general is ICT-driven, and in order to keep up with this change, the knowledge and skills provided to learners/students in Office Technology and Management must be restructured.
Electronic Office (e-office) is a 21st-century phenomenon that is a paperless office approach in which all office work is done on a computer. To effectively bridge the gap between what is taught in various institutions and what is used in the workplace, OTM students should be taught using various modern office technology facilities.
For our educational systems to fulfill their mandates, the quality of training provided to individuals completing one or more courses should be such that it provides adequate skills and information required in the real world (Utoware & Kren-Ikidi, 2013). Amiaya (2016) defined ICT facilities as radios, televisions, audio tape/cassette and video players, projectors, satellite connections, sensors, and other hardware and software required for instruction delivery.
As a result, ICT hardware such as a radio set, television, telephone, computer, overhead projectors, electronic whiteboard, video tape recorder, filmstrip, CD-ROM, photocopier, scanner, and printer are used in the teaching and learning of OTM courses. ICT software, on the other hand, includes Microsoft Word, Microsoft Power Point, Coral Draw, database (Microsoft Access), Microsoft Excel, Web Page, Chartroom, e-mail, and the internet.
According to Ajayi (2009), business education course teaching and learning had progressed beyond the teacher standing in front of a group of students and disseminating information to them without adequate student participation.
He contended that, with the help of ICT, teachers can push 5 students beyond their traditional boundaries, ensure adequate participation in teaching and learning processes, and create vital environments for experimentation and exploration. This new development indicates that the era of teaching without ICT skills is over. Any classroom teacher who possesses adequate and professional ICT utilization skills will undoubtedly have his students perform better in classroom learning.
It should be noted, however, that the effective use of various ICT methods in teaching and learning is dependent on the availability of these facilities and the teachers’ ability to use them. Utoware and Chamberlain (2013) identified some barriers to using new technologies in the classroom. The first factor to consider is the teacher. Teachers face a slew of challenges as a result of technological changes that are occurring faster than students can be trained.
Their development is a significant barrier to the use of ICT tools. Some institutions are hesitant to arrange for refresher training to keep workers and teachers’ skills up to date in order to improve performance. Other challenges include the cost of capital expenditures in hardware and software, as well as the availability of pedagogically sound materials.
The cost of constructing or installing a computer laboratory is enormous. These costs are a major concern for the program’s future growth in Office Technology and Management. Adebayo (2008) expressed disappointment that the Nigerian educational system has not yet adequately exposed students, teachers, and learning institutions to the realities of ICT tools and skills that will enable them to face the challenges of the global world of internet and knowledge sharing.
Ojo and Akhademe (2016), citing Obi (2002), attested that 60% of Office Technology and Management graduates from polytechnics or universities in Nigeria remain unemployed due to a lack of modern technological demands.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The OTM program’s teaching and learning process is beset by a slew of issues, including a lack of new technologies, which makes it difficult to teach and prepare students for their use in the workplace now and in the future. Utoware, Kren-Ikidi, and Apreala (2016), citing Nwosu (2012), discovered that new office technological equipment was lacking and that more theoretical concepts were being taught than practical work in emerging office technologies in a study on strategies in motivating secretarial education students’ interest in emerging technologies.
According to Ulinfun in Azih (2008), learning would be meaningless without the use of teaching facilities, and students would grope in the dark for a long time before they could grasp what the teacher said. Poor performance and a lack of employable skills among OTM students can also be attributed to a lack of new technologies in teaching OTM students.
Furthermore, the student population is growing, resulting in overcrowding, and the traditional method of delivering information to them is no longer effective. It is also important to note that poor computer knowledge by lecturers poses a significant challenge to the teaching and learning of OTM programs using ICT, because many of them continue to use the old method of teaching even in this jet age and computer era, where understanding is easier, better, and faster with ICT.
THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVE
The study’s objectives are as follows:
to gain access to and use of new technologies in teaching and learning College of education programs in office technology and management
To investigate the challenges of implementing an Office Technology and Management program in a college of education using new learning technologies.
To determine the most likely strategies for reducing the challenges of integrating new technologies into Office Technology and Management programs.
HYPOTHESES FOR RESEARCH
The researcher developed the following research hypotheses in order to successfully complete the study:
H0: There is no availability or use of new technologies in the teaching and learning of Office Technology and Management programs at the college level.
H1: New technologies are available and used in the teaching and learning of Office Technology and Management programs at the college of education.
H02: There are no difficulties in implementing the Office Technology and Management program in a college of education by utilizing new learning technologies.
H2: There are difficulties in implementing the Office Technology and Management program in a college of education due to the use of new learning technologies.
1.5 THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE
This research would serve as a guide for employers in determining the type of modern office equipment required by the secretary in order to maximize the efficiency and productivity of secretarial work and the entire organization. It would also help to reduce the workload of secretaries in the office and increase job efficiency. Finally, business organizations will recognize the value of computers in the advancement of secretarial practice and will purchase them.
THE STUDY’S SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
The study’s scope includes the impact of technological advancement on the teaching and learning of OTME courses in Nigerian colleges of education. Financial constraint- Inadequate funding tends to impede the researcher’s efficiency in locating relevant materials, literature, or information, as well as in the data collection process (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will conduct this study alongside other academic work. As a result, the amount of time spent on research will be reduced.
a) RESEARCH MATERIAL AVAILABILITY: The researcher’s research material is insufficient, limiting the scope of the study.
TERMS DEFINITION
Competencies: The practical skills required to perform specific office tasks. They refer to the practical skills that secretary supervisory personnel require in order to perform specific tasks in the office.
Technology: A method of accomplishing tasks that involves the use of complex electronic equipment in the workplace.
Computer Technology: The application of computer-based technology in data storage, processing, manipulation, and retrieval in a modern work environment.
Efficiency is defined as people’s ability to complete tasks efficiently and without wasting time or resources. As an example, consider a competent and efficient secretary.
Enhancement is defined by Oxford advance learners as a method of increasing or improving the quality, value, or status of something.
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THE EFFECT OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT ON OTME COURSES TEACHING AND LEARNING IN NIGERIAN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION