P. I. Eze and S. N. Aja
Effective communication is of great importance in teaching-learning situation. That is why Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 2004) provides that ICT devices will be used to improve communication as well as for expansion of instructional techniques in schools. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are technological gadgets that receive, process, store, retrieve and disseminate information. It is in response to the need for ICT in schools that this study was undertaken to assess the availability and utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices in senior secondary schools in Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Four research questions guided the study. The population of the study comprised of two hundred and twenty five (225) teachers and Eight thousand one hundred and twenty eight (8,128) students in the fifteen (15) senior secondary schools in the study area. Simple random sampling technique was used to select ten (10) teachers and twenty six (26) students from ten (10) schools used for the study to give a sample size of three hundred and sixty (360) respondents. The instrument used for data collection was structured questionnaire. Pearson’s Moment Correlation Co-efficient was used to calculate the reliability co-efficient of the pilot tests to get established reliability value of 0.78. the data collected were analyzed using mean scores. It was found among other things that ICT devices are not adequately utilized, personnel to operate ICT devices are not adequately trained and most of the ICT devices are not in good working condition in schools studied. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made: urgent review and implementation of policy on ICT adaptation in secondary schools, recruitment and posting of qualified personnel to operate ICT devices in secondary schools, review of teacher education curriculum to incorporate ICT skills and training and encouraging individuals and non governmental agencies to participate in the provision and maintenance of ICT devices.
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