A SURVEY OF COMPUTER SKILLS AMONG GRADUATING COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION (CSE) STUDENTS IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

TERHEMEN ORAGANDE
Department of Computer Science Education,
College of Education Katsina-Ala, Benue state, Nigeria.
Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This research surveyed computer skills among graduating Computer Science Education (CSE) students in Colleges of Education in Benue state. The study was guided by four research questions. A survey design was used for the study. The population consisted of 235 graduating CSE students from the three Colleges of Education in Benue state that offer the CSE programme. A random sampling technique was used in drawing a sample of 150 respondents from the Population. An instrument titled computer skills possessed by graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state was administered on the respondents. Data collected were analysed using simple percentages. The findings showed that most graduating CSE students did not possess computer skills while a few did. The findings further showed that out of the few that possessed computer skills a larger percentage (73.08%) possessed fundamental computer skills, a smaller percentage (23.04%) possessed basic computer skills while a very small percentage (3.85%) possessed intermediate computer skills. Two reasons were responsible for lack of computer skills among graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state these are lack of sufficient equipment in computer laboratories and lack of exposure to practical lessons. The researcher recommended that all graduating students of CSE programme be made to acquire computer skills before they are allowed to graduate. He also advised the affected institutions to liaise with TETFund and proprietors to equip their computer laboratory for training of CSE students. The NCCE was also urged to ensure strict compliance with its minimum standards during accreditation of the CSE programme.

Keywords: Computer Education, Computer literacy, Computer skills, Graduating

INTRODUCTION

            In 1987, the Nigerian government introduced computer education into the nation’s secondary school system. A national committee on computer education was inaugurated the same year to devise a dynamic policy plan on computer education and computer literacy as well as devise clear strategies that would be used by federal and state governments in introducing computer education. This committee swung into action immediately and formulated the national policy on computer education and literacy in 1988 (Jegede & Owolabi, 2003). The general objectives of the policy were to bring a computer literate society by mid 1990s and to enable school children to appreciate and use computers in various aspects of life in future employment. By late 1990s these objectives were yet to see the light of the day however in 2002, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) developed the national computer curriculum for primary schools and this was integrated into the primary school curriculum (Adefunke, Ayodele & Olufemi, 2014). Today computer education has been introduced in all primary and secondary schools in the nation but the teaching and learning of computer studies in most primary and secondary schools in the nation is carried out without practical activities denying the pupils and students the expected computer literacy.

The achievement of any educational policy depends greatly on its implementation (Adefunke et al., 2014). Thus if the objectives of the national policy on computer education are to be achieved, our computer science teachers and computer science teachers in training must have the requisite computer skills needed to implement the policy. Unfortunately, many studies including that of Martins and Omeneke (2008), Hamman (2017) and that of Haruna (2014) have shown that many teachers of computer studies in our primary and secondary schools lack the requisite computer skills to implement the desired computer education.

Martins & Omeneke (2008) investigated the current status of computer education and problems facing the implementation of computer education programme in Nigeria, findings revealed lack of computer skills on the part of teachers as one of the factors militating against the implementation of computer education in Nigeria. Similarly, Hamman (2017) investigated the problems of implementing computer education in Junior secondary schools in some selected local areas in Adamawa state, findings revealed that lack of qualified teachers to teach the subject is one of the problems of implementing computer education in Junior secondary schools in the state. This implies that these teachers lack the required computer skills to teach the subject at this level. In a paper entitled ‘’Computer Science Education in the Universal Basic Education (UBE): Problems and Prospects’’, Haruna (2014) pointed out that one of the problems of implementing computer science education under the UBE programme is lack of qualified teachers implying that some teachers lack the requisite computer skills needed to implement computer education at this level.

To worsen the matter, reports from our teacher institutes reveal that many of our computer teachers in training from Colleges of Education lack the requisite computer skills up to the point of graduating. If nothing is done and these students graduate without the requisite computer skills, the problem of implementation of computer education in our primary and secondary schools resulting from lack of computer skills on the part of teachers would persists. Computer skills are indeed indices of computer literacy. One’s level of computer literacy can be measured by the number computer skills he or she has. Computer literacy connotes the ability to use computers and related technologies efficiently (LaPlant, 2014).Computer literacy is a very important skill all need to possess in the modern world. Employers want all their workers to have basic computer skills as organizations are becoming increasingly dependent on computers. Learners also need computer literacy to achieve many learning goals. Research has shown that computer literacy has a positive impact on students’ academic performance (Oseghale & John, 2014). In order to boost the desired computer literacy in our learners, there is need to ensure that computer science teachers and computer science teachers in training especially the graduating ones possess all the requisite computer skills that are needed to make them function effectively on their jobs.

There are five levels of computer skills that are defined by the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) these are fundamental, basic, intermediate, advanced and proficient computer skills (University of New South Wales, 2020). For a teacher of computer studies in primary and secondary schools to function optimally on his job, he must have at least basic and intermediate computer skills. At basic level one should be able to identify the various hardware components on the computer. He should also be able to understand basic software concepts such as operating systems, applications, file, menu bars etc. In addition he should be able to do word processing, spreadsheet, graphic design, surf the internet, send, receive and reply emails as well as carry out multimedia tasks. At the intermediate level, he should be able to recognize hardware peripherals, understand basic network concepts, work with the various applications on the system such as word processing, spreadsheet and databases. He should also be able to surf the net and download documents, forward and copy emails and add attachments to emails. Finally he should be able to carry out multimedia tasks such as editing of audios and videos (University of New South Wales, 2020).Computer science teachers in training must be made to possess all these computer skills. The current situation where some graduating students of computer science education from our colleges of education lack computer skills calls for investigation to ascertain their true computer skills so that remedial measures can be taken to correct the trend. The purpose of this research was therefore to investigate the computer skills among the graduating computer science education students in Colleges of Education with a view to addressing them so that effective implementation of computer education and computer literacy in primary and secondary schools in Benue state would be achieved.

Four questions guided the research study: Do the graduating students of computer science education in Colleges of Education in Benue state possess computer skills? What are the computer skills possessed by graduating computer science education students in Colleges of Education in Benue state? Are the skills adequate for implementing computer education in our primary and secondary schools? What are the reasons for lack of computer skills among graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state? This research would be beneficial to government of Benue state, Computer science education students in Colleges of Education in Benue state, computer science lecturers in Colleges of Education in Benue state and students in primary and secondary schools in the state. To the government of Benue state, the findings of this research would help her to realize that computer science teachers in training do not have the requisite skills to implement her policy on computer education in primary and secondary schools and the reasons why they do not have these skills. This would help her to take deliberate steps to change the situation. To the computer science teachers in training, the findings of this research would help them to realize their weaknesses and work hard to address them. The findings of this research would also help Computer science lecturers in Benue state Colleges of Education to take pragmatic steps to change this ugly situation. Finally students in primary and secondary schools stand to gain from this research in that on addressing these challenges, students in primary and secondary schools would be given the desired computer education to get sound computer literacy.        

METHOD

A survey research design was employed for the study. A survey research involves the collection of information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions and this type of research allows for a variety of methods to recruit participants, collect data, and utilize various methods of instrumentation (Ponto, 2012).

The study area included only the three colleges of Education that have been accredited by the National Commission for Colleges of Education to run CSE programme in Benue state namely College of Education Katsina-Ala, College of Education Oju and Luga College of Education Gboko. The population of the study consisted of all the 235graduating CSE students in all the three Colleges of Education in Benue state in 2019. The choice of students rather than lecturers was informed by the fact that the students would be able to give a more sincere opinion of their true state of computer skills rather than lecturers who would want to justify themselves. A random sample of 150 students was drawn from the population. In random sampling, every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected (McCombes, 2019). 

The instrument for data collection was the researcher’s self-structured questionnaire. The Questionnaire titled: Computer skills possessed by graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state had seven questions measured on nominal scale. The instrument was validated in face and content by two experts: one in computer science education and one in measurement and evaluation both from College of Education Katsina-Ala before it was administered on the respondents. Data collected were analysed using simple percentages.

RESULTS

Research Question One: Do the graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state possess computer skills?

To answer this question the responses of students on item 3 of the questionnaire were analysed using simple percentages as presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Responses on Skills possessed by graduating CSE students

From the analysis presented on Table 1 above, 52 out of 150 respondents representing 34.67% said they have computer skills while 98 out of the 150 of the respondents representing 65.33% said they do not have computer skills. The results indicate that some graduating students of CSE in Colleges of Education in Benue state possess computer skills while others do not possess computer skills but the number that do not possess computer skills exceeds the number that possess computer skills.

Research Question Two: What are the computer skills possessed by graduating CSE students in Colleges of education in Benue state?

To answer this question the responses of 52 of the respondents who had computer skills on item 4 of the questionnaire were analysed using simple percentages as presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Type of Computer Skill possessed by graduating CSE Students

From the analysis on Table 2 above, 38 out of 52 respondents representing 73.08% possess fundamental computer skills, 12 out of 52 respondents representing 23.08% possess basic computer skills while 2 out of 52 respondents representing 3.84%possess intermediate computer skills. The results clearly show that out of the 52graduating CSE students who have computer skills, a large percentage possess only fundamental computer skills, a small percentage possess basic computer skills while a very small proportion of the students possess intermediate computer skills.

Research Question Three: Are the Computer Skills adequate for implementing computer education in primary and secondary schools in Benue state?

To answer this research question responses of students on item 5 of the questionnaire were analysed using simple percentages as presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Adequacy of Computer skills for implementing Computer Education

From the analysis on Table 3 above, 14 out of the 52 representing 26.92% of the respondents who have computer skills said that their skills are adequate for implementing computer education in primary and secondary schools. In contrast 38 out of 52 representing 72.08% of the respondents said their skills are not adequate for implementing computer education in primary and secondary schools. The results show that a larger percentage of graduating CSE students do not have adequate computer skills for implementing computer education in primary and secondary schools. In contrast, a smaller percentage of the graduating CSE have adequate computer skills for implementing computer education in primary and secondary schools.

Research Question Four: Is lack of sufficient equipment in computer laboratories responsible for lack of computer skills among graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state?

To answer this question, responses of the 98 students who had no computer skills on items 6 of the questionnaire were analysed using simple percentages as presented in Table 4.

Table 4: Responses on lack of sufficient equipment in computer Laboratory

From the analysis on Table 4 above, 86 out of 98 respondents representing 87.76% said lack of sufficient equipment in their computer laboratories is responsible for their lack of computer skills. In contrast 12 out of 98 respondents representing 12.2% said lack of sufficient equipment in their computer laboratories is not responsible for their lack of computer skills. The results indicate that lack of sufficient equipment in computer laboratories is one of the reasons responsible for lack of computer skills among the graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state.

Research Question Five: Is lack of exposure to practical lessons responsible for lack of computer skills among graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state?

To answer this question the responses of the students on item 7 of the questionnaire were analysed using simple percentages as presented in Table 5.

Table 5: Responses on Lack of Exposure to Practical lessons

From the analysis on Table 5 above, 92 out of 98 respondents representing 93.88% said lack of exposure to practical lessons is responsible for their lack of computer skills. On the other hand, 6 out 98 respondents representing 6.12 % said lack of exposure to practical lessons is not responsible for their lack of computer skills. The results clearly show that lack of exposure to practical lessons is also responsible for lack of computer skills among graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state.

DISCUSSION

            The study sought to know if graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state had computer skills. The findings clearly revealed that a few of them had computer skills but most of them did not have computer skills. This is evident from the analysis on Table 1 which showed that out of the sampled respondents, 34.67% had computer skills while 65.33% did not have computer skills.

            The study further sought to know the type of computer skills possessed by graduating CSE students. Findings on this subject revealed that out of the few students that had computer skills a larger percentage (73.08%) had fundamental computer skills; a smaller percentage had basic computer skills (23.08%) while a very small proportion (3.85%) had intermediate computer skills. This is shown in the analysis on Table 2.

            The study then sought to know if the computer skills possessed by these few graduating CSE students are adequate for implementing computer education in primary and secondary schools. To implement computer education in primary and secondary schools one needs basic or intermediate computer skills. Since most of them (73.08%) had only fundamental computer skills, it can argued that such student did not have adequate computer skills for implementing computer education in primary and secondary schools. In contrast those who had basic (23.08%) and intermediate computer skills (3.85%) had adequate computer skills to implement computer education in primary and secondary schools.

            Finally the study sought to know the reasons for lack of computer skills among graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state. Findings on this issue revealed two major factors: lack of sufficient equipment in computer laboratories as shown in the analysis on Table 4 and lack of exposure to practical lessons as shown in the analysis on Table 5.

            The findings of this research are similar to that of Martins and Omeneke (2008), Hamman (2016) and Haruna (2014) except that in Martins and Omeneke (2008) and in Hamman (2016) and Haruna (2014) the lack of computer skills was identified among teachers who were already engaged to teach rather than teachers in training.

CONCLUSION

            Based on the findings of this research, the following conclusion can be drawn from the study: Most graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state do not possess computer skills but a few does. Out of the few that possess computer skills, a larger percentage (73.08%)possess fundamental computer skills, a smaller percentage (23.04%) possess basic computer skills while a very small proportion (3.85%)possess intermediate computer skills. Since basic and intermediate computer skills are required for implementation of computer education and computer literacy in primary and secondary schools, it can be argued that most graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state do not have adequate computer skills to implement computer education and computer literacy in primary and secondary schools however few of them have adequate computer skills for implementing computer education in primary and secondary schools. Two major reasons are responsible for lack of computer skills among graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state: these are lack of sufficient equipment in the computer laboratories and lack of exposure to practical sessions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to change the ugly situation for effective implementation of computer education in primary and secondary schools in state, the following recommendations are hereby made:

1. All the Colleges of Education in Benue state that offer CSE programme should ensure that all their graduating CSE students are made to acquire sufficient computer skills before they are allowed to graduate.
2. The National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) should ensure that each College of Education in Benue state that offers CSE programme meets minimum stipulated standards before it is granted accreditation to run a CSE programme.
3. The managements of beneficiary Colleges of Education in Benue state should liaise with Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TetFund) to equip their computer laboratories for effective training of computer science teachers.
4. The Ministry of Education should direct the proprietors of private Colleges of Education in Benue state to acquire all the needed equipment in their computer laboratories.
5. Monitoring of the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) programme by both Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and institutions should be intensified to encourage acquisition of computer skills among CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state.

If these recommendations are diligently implemented, all the graduating CSE students in Colleges of Education in Benue state would acquire all the needed computer skills before graduation for onward transmission to learners in primary and secondary schools in the state.

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