ROLE OF E-LEARNING IN ENSURING THE CONTINUATION OF TRAINING IN BUSINESS TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMME DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND BEYOND IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the role of e-learning in ensuring the continuation of training in business teacher education programme during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond in Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 109 business educators from five tertiary institutions in Anambra State. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire developed by the researchers. The instrument was subject to a pilot test on 20 business educators in Asaba metropolis. The application of the Cronbach Alpha reliability test on the returned data yielded coefficient values of 0.81 and 0.78 for clusters B1 and B2 respectively with an overall reliability co-efficient value of 0.80 for internal consistency. Data collected from the respondents were analyzed using mean, standard deviation to answer the research questions and t-test for the hypotheses testing. Findings revealed that e-learning ensures the continuation of business teacher education programme during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond included facilitating ease in learning, promoting flexibility in the use of teaching methods, focusing on the achievement of students’ needs, promoting more hands-on learning experiences and allowing students to learn at their own pace among others. Findings also showed that poor government commitment towards the implementation of the national ICT framework in tertiary institutions, misappropriation of funds by heads of tertiary institutions, socio-economic status of parents, poor power supply, poor internet networks, high cost of internet accessible gadgets and failure to collaborate with private it experts are the challenges impeding the adoption of e-learning for the continuation of training in business teacher education programme during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond in Nigeria. The institutional type of the respondents did not significantly influence their mean ratings. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others, that administrators of business teacher education programme should collaborate with the private sector in the areas of funding, technical support and resource provisions so as to ensure the full and efficient utilization of e-learning platforms in the programme.

Keywords: E-learning, Continuation, Training, Business Teacher Education, Programme