FACTORS HINDERING THE EFFECTIVE TEACHING OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY COURSES AS PERCEIVED BY OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT TEACHERS

Abstract

This study was undertaken to identify the factors hindering the effective teaching of ICT courses in Office Technology and Management programs. The need for this study arose because of the observed ineffective teaching of ICT courses in OTM which in turn defeats the aim of the curriculum which emphasized the practical teaching and learning of ICT courses. The study adopted the survey design. The population of the study was thirty-one lecturers/instructors in OTM departments in selected polytechnics in Niger
State. The sample size was twenty-six and the sampling technique was the simple random sampling method. The instrument for data collection was a five-point rating scale questionnaire. The findings of the study revealed, among others, that instructors/lecturers in Office Technology and Management were professionally and academically qualified to teach ICT courses but lacked up-to-date re-training required to effectively deliver ICT courses to their students. It further revealed that there were insufficient number of ICT equipment, poor maintenance, incessant power failures, lack of multi-media teaching aids and use of inappropriate teaching methods. It was concluded that there were several factors hindering the effective teaching of ICT courses in OTM. It was recommended that the Government and Polytechnic administrators should adequately fund OTM departments in order to provide the much needed
infrastructural and human capacity building required to effectively teach ICT courses in OTM departments.