Assessing Readiness for Integration of Electronic Learning into Business Education Programmes in Tertiary Institutions in Ebonyi State

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess readiness for integration of electronic learning into business education programmes in tertiary institutions in Ebonyi State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The population was 37 business education lecturers and 748 Business Education Students in tertiary institutions that offer Business Education programmes. All the business education lecturers and 486 Business Education students were used. This gave a sample size of 523. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument was done using Cronbach alpha reliability computation. An overall reliability co-efficient index of 0.98 was obtained. A total of 524 copies of the instrument were administered to the respondents but 522 were correctly filled and returned. Mean, standard deviation and t-test statistical techniques were used to analyze the data collected and the hypotheses tested at 0.05 alpha level. Results from the data analyzed showed that most computer equipment needed for integration of e-learning are available in business education departments and Business Education lecturers possess skills necessary for integration of e-learning in their departments. The finding also revealed that there is significant difference in the use of computer resources in business education departments by students and lecturers and there is no significant difference on computer skills possessed by business education lecturers based on their gender. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended, among others, that business education lecturers should be trained and retrained on emerging computer skills especially on the areas of uploading and securing data and government should upgrade computer resources in Business Education departments.

Keywords:  Readiness, Electronic Learning, Business Education, and Computer