ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of ICT for instruction delivery among agricultural science lecturers in tertiary institutions in Imo state. The study has the following objectives; describe the socio-economic characteristics of agricultural lecturers in the study area; identify different types of ICT resources in the study area; determine the accessibility of ICT resources in the study area; ascertain areas of ICT practised by the lecturers in teaching; assess the level of knowledge of ICT practice among lecturers, assess the attitude of ICT practice among lecturers, assess the practice of ICT among lecturers and identify the challenges to the practice of ICT applications among lecturers in the study area. The study used multi-stage sampling procedure in selecting 192 lecturers. Primary data were collected by the use of structured questionnaire. Data for the study were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results of this study revealed that 58.3% of the respondents were within the age bracket of 50 years old. 63% of the respondents were males, 67.7% of the respondents were married and 60.4% of the respondents possessed Doctorate degrees. 55.1% of the respondents had at most 10 years of ICT experience. The study showed that majority of the respondents were aware of the availabilities of Laptop(94.8%), Computer hardware(93.8%), Computer software(93.2%), Smart board(58.3%), Microphone and audio amplifier(95.3%), etc in their tertiary institution. Accessibility to these ICT resources were high with pooled mean of 4.17, in the study area. The respondents agreed that the major areas of ICT they used in teaching were Microsoft word (78.6%), Internet services (59.9%), data projector (66.7%), microphone and audio amplifier (93.2%). With a grand mean of 3.34, the study affirmed that the knowledge level of Agricultural lecturers in ICT applications (Microsoft word, powerpoint and the internet), in the study area was high except in Powerpoint. Also, with a grand mean score of 3.56 and 3.25, they had positive attitude towards ICT and high level of practice, respectively. Non-availability of ICT training centres to update ICT knowledge, too busy schedule, poor information communication methods, lack of internet access, etc with grand mean score of 3.96, were top challenges found limiting agricultural lecturers’ better practice of ICT applications. The study showed at p < 0.05 level of probability that agricultural lecturers’ knowledge, attitude, and access to computer and ICT application software were positively associated with the practice of ICT in instructional delivery. However, there was a significant difference between knowledge, attitude and practice of agricultural lecturers in ICT instructional delivery in tertiary institutions in Imo State. Therefore, the use of ICT application software has not been well integrated into the teaching and learning process among agricultural lecturers in tertiary institutions in Imo State. The study therefore, recommends training and retraining of staff. Also, Tertiary Education curriculum should be reviewed to reflect more practical courses in ICT for pre-service and in-service lecturers.