AVAILABILITY AND UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN JOSEPH SARWUAN TARKA UNIVERSITY, MAKURDI, BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study is on the availability and utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities in teaching and learning of agricultural education in joseph sarwuan tarka university. Three research questions were raised and answered by the study. The study adopted a survey research design. The population of the study was 294. All members of the population were used due to its manageable size. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The instrument was validated by five experts. Using Cronbach alpha method, the reliability of coefficient of 0.89 indicating the instrument reliable for the study. Data was collected by the researcher and 294 (100%) copies of the questionnaire were retrieved. Data collected was analyzed using percentages, mean and standard deviation. Results from the study indicated that 92.9% of ICT facilities was available while 7.1% was not available these implies that the Department has available ICT facilities that can be used in teaching of Agricultural, it was also reported that ICT facilities utilize in the Department was at 71.4% while Smart Board, e-Library, video recorder and Departmental website which constitute 28.6% are not been utilized in teaching and learning of Agricultural Education in the Department. The study also found that all of the items had a mean value above the cutoff point of 2.50 which indicated that lecturers and students have challenges in the utilization of available ICT facilities. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended amongst others that ICT facilities that facilitate teaching and learning should be made available in the department for the purpose of teaching and learning and both lecturers and students should undergo ICT training to improve on their digital literacy for effectiveness.