Influence of New Technologies on Teaching of Business Education Courses in Tertiary Institutions in Kwara State

Abstract

The study investigates the influence of new technologies on the teaching of business education courses in tertiary institutions in Kwara state. Four research questions and one hypotheses guide the conduct of the study. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. A total of 48 business education lecturers in the public tertiary institutions in Kwara state were selected. A questionnaire with Cronbach reliability of 0.70 was the instrument used for data collection. Percentages mean score was used to analyze the research questions while t-test was used to analyze the hypothesis. The result of the data collected and analyzed indicated that lecturers have access to the new technologies for teaching of business education courses. The result of the test of the null hypothesis showed no significant difference in the mean rating of respondents. It was concluded that new technologies have a positive influence on the teaching of business education courses. It was recommended among others that institutional administrators should encourage business teachers through sponsorship to acquire knowledge and skills in the area of new technologies.

Introduction

Technology could be defined as the application of the scientific method to solving problems in our daily life, (Nwoji, 2012). But in the perspective of business education, technology can be seen as the application of scientific method to solving problems regarding impartation of skills to learners to meet the changing needs and demands of the society. Technology is a many-faceted phenomenon in materials created and advanced by man to free himself from endearment by nature, but which, when undisciplined, enslaves its own creator. By this definition, technology helps to advance man’s course in his environment but moderation and control should be exercised to direct its use to solving problems of man, if not, may be misleading in itself. New technologies which revolve round the use of internet and resources have emerged that are aimed at improving productivity. Typical examples of internet teaching and learning media that facilitate teaching and learning in business education include: Projectors, E-mail, Smart boards, Mimeo boards, Teleconferencing, Video Conferencing, E-book Reader and Streaming Videos, (E-How, 2012). New technologies in business education are designed to prepare students for a variety of careers in high-tech business offices. It is not easy to develop taxonomy of new technologies in business education because of their diversity and evolution in structures and functions. New technologies in teaching and learning business education subjects according to Ezenwafor (2012) include:

1. Using broadcast materials or CD-ROM for information collection and storage
2. Using micro-computers with software applications to write or produce documents.
3. Skilful keyboarding
4. E-mailing and messaging
5. Internet browsing using search engines, windows, messenger, yahoo, chat room, etc.
6. opaque projector, slide projector and multi-media projector

New technologies in business education are designed to prepare students for a variety of careers in high-tech business offices. No doubt the emergence of new technologies such as modern computers, word processor, the internet, automobile teller machines, reprographic machines, micrographic machines, accounting machines, the modern telephonic system, including handset and multimedia among others, have not only revolutionized the office environment but have also brought changes in the ways people are doing things (McCubbrey, 2002). Mortion (2012) listed a number of emerging technologies which include: power point, (slide presentation), blogging, mobile devices, iTunes, screen casting, augmented and virtual reality, twitter, wikis, voice thread, voice recognition, web, video and teleconferencing and YouTube. Others include video conferencing, interactive white board, online library, data bases, LCD projector, internet enable phones and hybrid devices that combine two or more of these facilities and not forgetting ones that guarantee the application of standard file format such as HTLM, PDF, GIT, JPEG, and MPEG.

The ever-changing role of technology continues to be a challenge for all educators especially business educators. The incorporation of this knowledge and the constant maintenance and updating of hardware is a real challenge for business educators

Statement of the Problem

Business education lecturers are expected to integrate information and communication technology in the teaching and learning process, they ought to use technology so that it supports instruction and enables learners to use technology as an important tool to meet their information and learning needs but this expectation has not be met among the tertiary institutions where business education is taught in Kwara State. Has business education curriculum fully embraced the use of these new technologies or methods in teaching and learning of Business Education courses? Are the ICT resources available for use by the teachers in teaching and learning of business education courses? However, it is uncertain whether the tertiary institutions in Kwara State of Nigeria are utilizing ICT effectively to enhance teaching and learning ability of Business Education Students.

urpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to examine the influence of new technologies on teaching of business education courses in tertiary institutions in Kwara State. The specific purposes sought to

1. Examine the influence of new technologies on delivery of lectures in tertiary institutions in Kwara State.
2. Examine the influence of new technologies on keeping of students records in tertiary institutions in Kwara State.
3. Examine the influence of new technologies on preparation of lessons in tertiary institutions in Kwara State.
4. Examine the influence of new technologies on method of assessment of students in tertiary institutions in Kwara State.

Research Questions

For the purpose of this research, the following questions were formulated:

1. To what extent have new technologies influence the delivery of lecturers in tertiary institutions in Kwara State?
2. To what extent have new technologies influence the keeping of students’ records in tertiary institutions in Kwara State?
3. To what extent have new technologies influence the preparation of lessons in tertiary institutions in Kwara State?
4. To what extent have new technologies influence the method of assessment of students in tertiary institutions in Kwara State?

Research Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant difference between the mean responses of male and female lecturers regarding the influence of new technologies on the teaching of business education courses in tertiary institutions

Methods

The design of the study was descriptive survey which examines the influence of new technologies on teaching of business education courses in tertiary institutions in Kwara State. The population which also served as sample comprised 48 business education lecturers from the public owned tertiary institutions in Kwara State. The population was manageable hence there was no sample.

The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire. It has two parts. Part A contained items which has information on demographic variables of the respondent while Part B contained items that have information concerning the research questions. The questionnaire was structured on a 4-point scale of Strongly Agree, Agree, Strongly Disagree, Disagree. The questionnaire had face and content validity as verified by experts in business education and measurements and evaluation. The instrument was also subjected to Cronbach alpha which yielded a reliability of 0.70. Percentage and Mean score was used to analyze the research questions. A cut off point of 2.50 was set to accept or reject items of the instrument. Mean of 2.50 shows agreed, while less than 2.50 shows disagreed. T-test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. If the calculated t-value (ctv) is less than table value (tv) the hypothesis is retained, on the other hand, t-calculated (ctv) which is above the table value (tv) hypothesis is therefore rejected.

Result

Research Question One: To what extent have new technologies influence the delivery of lectures in tertiary institutions in Kwara State?

Table 1: Respondent mean rating on the extent to which new technologies has influence the delivery of lectures in tertiary institutions in Kwara State

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