STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE ATTITUDINAL AND CLASSROOM COMPETENCIES NEEDED BY LECTURERS FOR MOTIVATING BEGINNERS IN OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

Abstract

The study was carried out to examine attitudinal and classroom competencies needed by lecturers for motivating beginners in Office Technology and Management (OTM) in selected public polytechnics in North Central Nigeria. Survey design was the method adopted to carry out the study.  Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were formulated for the study.  The population of the study comprised 570 OTM Students from three polytechnics in the North Central Nigeria. Simple Random Sampling technique was adopted to sample 171 students representing 30% of the population. A four Point Likert Rating Scale questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts in OTM, The Federal Polytechnic, Bida. Mean and Standard Deviation were the statistical tools used to analyze the data while Cronbach Alpha Reliability Test (CART) was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument. Cronbach Alpha Reliability co-efficient of the instrument calculated gave a coefficient of 0.97 which indicated that the instrument for the study was reliable. t-test statistics was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the data indicated amongst others that accessibility of lecturers to students, care for students, ability to interact with students, ability to exert control and good communication skills in the classroom, and good knowledge of the subject area, were the attitudinal and classroom competencies needed by lecturers for motivating beginners in OTM.  It was therefore concluded that attitudinal and classroom competencies of lecturers are germane to students’ performance and where this is lacking students are likely to perform at a low extent.  Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that lecturers in the polytechnics should make themselves accessible to students, show attitudes of care and encouragement towards the students, possess good communication skills, ability to control the class and good knowledge of the subject area they are meant to teach.

Key Words: Office Technology and Management, Competencies, Attitudinal and Classroom competencies