Utilization of Information Technology Facilities for Research by Undergraduate Students in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions

Abstract

Information Technology (IT) has added value to effective research productivity in Nigeria tertiary institutions and colleges. This study employed a survey research method on the availability and use of IT facilities for undergraduate  students’ research work in five schools of Federal College of Education, Obudu, Cross River State. The respondents were two hundred students who were randomly selected from the five schools of the college. A Questionnaire method was used for data collection. The findings of the study revealed that  use of computer and internet were the  major IT facilities  used  for students’ research work but the extent of use were mostly occasionally 33(16.15%) for School of Education, Arts and Social Sciences 24 (12.0%) while Languages, Vocation and Sciences recorded  22(11.0%), 20(10.0%) and 10(5.0%) respectively. The major obstacles for non-use of IT were Inadequate IT facilities 70(35.0%), incessant power failure 60(30.0%) and Inadequate skills 50(25.0%) amongst others. However, the need for acquisition of more IT facilities in the various Schools as well as adequate training programmes for students would boost their knowledge skills in the effective use and access to scholarly information resources for research output.

Keywords: Information Technology Facilities, Federal College of Education, Undergraduate Students, CRS, Nigeria.