E LEARNING AND ECONOMICS EDUCATION IN NIGERIA. A CASE STUDY OF OSUN STATE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION ILA ORANGUN
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Electronic learning, which is also referred to as e-Learning, is increasingly becoming acceptable for teaching, learning and administration purposes in higher institutions all over the world (Evarest & Laura, 2011). It is an important instructionaltool to facilitate the transfer of information as well as effective means of communication in schools and colleges. The manifestation of e-Learning or Internet-based instruction comes in one-to-one i.e. teacher-to-student, one-to-many i.e. teacher-to-group and many-to-many i.e. group-to-group approaches to instruction (Webb 2004). This results from the opportunity provided by institutions and more students that are taking part in it. E-Learning is the application of technologies involved in information processing and electronic communications which include computers, internet, e-mail, computer software, satellite, mobile communication gadgets, as well as other allied electronic devices for dissemination of knowledge and information. Electronic learning involves the application of computer and information technology in teaching-learning exercise. Adesoji (2012) is of the view that e-learning comprises computer and ICT materials and applications, which aid information collection and dissemination, research and global exchange of ideas that are necessary for advancing meaningful educational initiatives and to understand issues related to global development. The information age necessitated the introduction of e-learning facilities to the education systems with the aim of improving educational delivery and to prepare students for a role in this age. The application of facilities of e-learning provide productive teaching and learning so as to increase people’s creative and intellectual resources more importantly in today’s information society and gives ample and exceptional opportunities to the teachers and students to bring about development of capacities for high quality learning and to increase their innovative ability. Electronic learning is the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to enhance and support teaching, learning and research (Eteng & Ntui, 2009). There is growing concern for the use of ICT resources in this age of Information and Communication Technology. Such technologies include the computer, scanner, printer, Intranet, Internet, videophone systems, teleconferencing devices, Wireless Application Protocols (WAP), radio and microwaves, television and satellites, multimedia computer and multimedia projector, among others in instructional delivery (Nwana, 2012). The use of e-learning in Economics education has shown that it empowers students and makes them more knowledgeable in the field of Economics (Lage, Platt and Treglia 2000). Various types of ICT tools are used in Economics courses such as tutorial, testing, simulation/game, database, spreadsheet, and tools of local area network and the internet which provides opportunities for students to think in an economic way. (Adeosun, 2010) asserted that encouraging teachers to develop a sense of rapport with computer, appreciating its potentials for solving teaching and learning challenges and to entrench computer culture that permeates all activities in institutions of learning are the intents of objectives of the National Policy of Education. Also the National Policy on ICT Education in Nigeria (FRN, 2012) stated the objectives of ICT IN Education, which include: to integrate ICT into the National Education Curriculum, to promote the culture of lifelong learning, to promote development of ICT skilled personnel and support the training and capacity building among public sectors employees in the development and use of ICT tools and applications to improve the delivery of government services. Furthermore, it pointed out the responsibility of the Government in the attainment of the objectives, which shall be: to encourage continuous training for professionals through specialized training, introduce mandatory training and appropriate courses for the ICT at all tiers of education, foster an ICT driven educational administration environment, train and retrain teachers and facilitators at all levels and enhance their ICT competence, promote the development of instructional materials in electronic format, develop and implement ICT training programs for public sector employees, in connection with introduction of e-Government and other functions within Government offices. The adoption of this policy implies a paradigmatic complement from conventional methods of face-to-face teaching in classroom environment including Economics classroom to an environment where technology is a viable component of the overall infrastructure, skills and credentials of both teachers and learners for collaborative and e-Learning activities (Jone and Sims, 2002). Therefore, it is necessary for teachers, who serve askey implementers of the educational policy, to be well grounded and adequately equipped with ICT facilities in order to function productively in this age of information explosion and technological advancement. Its implementation should therefore lead to a speedy transformation of the arts of teaching, learning and administration of education which in turn fosters the production of graduates in the education system that can survive in the contemporary society, sustain national development and compete globally. The actualization of this policy statement depends mainly on the capability of the key implementers of the nation’s educational policy (i.e. teachers) to integrate eLearning technologies effectively in day to day classroom activities for effective pedagogy considering ICT as a world of its own, with its various diversified aspects. It is worthy of note that e-Learning has a major advantage of individualizing instruction through the presentation of varied and flexible experiences to the individual learner and takes care of learners’ indifference. Guided discovery and inquiry method are also made use of to ensure the application of effective teaching methods to the learner. The implication is that the provision of these e-Learning facilities cannot make any impact on their own until they are effectively utilized in the teaching and learning process. Okafor (2009), stated that the computer devices or tools are fed in sequential manner in the application of the e-learning with what to teach, the steps to be followed, how to evaluate success, how and when other classroom activities are to be carried out. This informs the basis of using e-learning technological tools in Economics Education program in Colleges of Education. Challenges and concerns arise as a result of knowledge explosion resulting from the introduction of ICT in almost every field of human endeavour and this calls for an awakening even in teaching profession. Teachers need to be mindful of the quality of their teaching which is determined by the quality of instructional materials employed such as charts, model static, specimen and slides (Sansanwal, 2009). ICT can be used in producing, storing, processing, distribution and exchanging information as an information handling tool. It therefore, implies that ICT could help teachers even to be more effective and resourceful in work life and in content management which will make teaching task less cumbersome, productive thereby improving students’ academic performance. Basically, the usage of ICT tools through elearning is meant to serve as an orientation stimulus to aid the teachers, strategies of teaching and not to replace them. The use of ICT through e-learning is a paradigm complement to the traditional form of teaching to make teaching learning process more real and practical resulting to better performances of students academically. Economics as a social science subject was introduced into the Nigerian curriculum in the year 1967 and as at then, only ten(10) candidates registered and later sat for the senior secondary school final year examination (Odusanya, 2001, cited in Yusuf, 2012). In the present time, because of the importance of the subject to all aspects of human endeavour, Nigeria is recording a tremendous increase in the percentage of candidates who register and sit for Economics yearly at both West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and National Examination Council (NECO) levels (Odunsaya, 2001, cited in Yusuf, 2012). The use of e-learning technologies has such advantages in teaching and learning process that objectives could be achieved in students offering Economics at the end of the three-year course. However, this depends strongly on the ability and capability, as well as the effectiveness of teachers to incorporate teaching strategies which use ICT facilities to achieve the objectives of lessons in the classroom. Punie, Zinnbauer and Cabrera (2006), maintained that ICT has not revolutionized teaching methods rather, the subject content and by implication e-learning does not replace the teaching strategies but being other supportive devices to enhance content delivery. However, the aims and effectiveness of teaching economics in recent years have been questioned due to lack of content knowledge as well as skills among the graduates (Becker, 2000). According to him, their inability to perform effectively in workplaces have raised serious concerns among parents, teachers, business communities, and concerned others. E-Learning is therefore aimed at enabling Economics teachers have access to the latest technologies giving them experience of using e-Learning in a variety of contexts during teaching. The methods used by lecturers should enable teachers in training to integrate e-Learning within their teaching and provide opportunities for them to use the technologies they will likely come about in school. Furthermore, it was observed that one of the many other factors responsible for a declining performance of students is the inability of lecturers to cover the required syllabus before presenting the candidates for the examinations. These, could be due to ineffective teaching strategies employed by the teachers or lack of proper understanding of the subject content by the students. The benefits of ICT as an important tool in the teaching and learning of wide range of topics in Economics such as statistics, measures of central tendency, national income and so on could enable the students understand and learn the subject better. Walstad(2001) stated that little attention is being given to the improvement of teaching and learning of Economics in recent decades and that passive learning based on the traditional form of ˝chalk and talk’’method of teaching has widely characterized the 20th century style of teaching Economics. The teaching of Economics as a school subject as well as how it is being learnt has been very much under researched in many parts of the world (Jephcote, 2004), Murray (2003) posited that economic forecasts and business analysts predict that the 21st century jobs will require information processing skills. Development of information literacy, therefore, becomes inevitable for workers of the present and quite essential for the future workers. The call for the 21st century literacy in e-Learning simply reflects the fact that the call for an educated citizenry and work force continues to rise to reflect changes in the society: be it in insurance, banking, economics, business, medicine, politics, military and even education. Simply put, these technologies have brought profound changes to all human endeavours as they ease data collection, processing, transmission, and interpretation provided by these technologies engendering the flow of information across boards and between individuals, cultures, nationalities, corporate bodies and organizations as never before, causing great technological, economics and social changes and binding the world ever more closely together. All sectors including education can be reformed through the use of e-Learning, Economics as it is widely believed that education should now be e-Learning system though the slow, and sometimes, unwilling designers of education instructional system planner is also a challenge. The rapid changes that have taken place all over the world pose a challenge to the educational sector in Nigeria. It has become imperative for Nigeria to complement the traditional pedagogical practices that still underpin its educational system. In order to revolutionize the educational system, the country needs ICT not only as tools for teaching and learning but also for effective communication across institutions. Another problem facing the adoption and application of e-Learning in educational institutions is the attitude of school management and authorities towards procuring and installation of the devices. Another formidable challenge to the use of information and communication technology is infrastructural deficiency. Lack of these basic infrastructures to power and run ICT equipment hamper the effective application of e-Learning as most colleges of education lack the necessary capacity to put a standby power generating plan for this purpose. Also, some lecturers lack the skills to fully utilize e-Learning technology in curriculum implementation hence the traditional chalk and duster approach still dominates in college of education pedagogy. The availability and use of e-Learning in Economics education in Colleges of Education has become imperative because of the fact that these institutions would produce teacher that need to teach/educate students or learners of values of e-Learning. Also by looking at the teaching-learners in Economics education, in which a lecturer has to teach quite a large number of students at a time if e-Learning is not used nothing or little can be achieved. Teaching may not be effective if a teacher has to stress him/her self to an extent beyond his/her capability in the course of the teaching. Education at the tertiary level should be e-Learning compliant as it is being found useful in other sectors such as in ebanking, e-commerce, e-government etc. There is therefore, the need to examine, E learning and economics education in Nigeria. A case study of osun state college of education Ila Orangun.
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