Multicultural African conference Zaria Conference

From left to right Umar Muhammad and Umaru Garba

Participants at the Multicultural African Conference

The potential benefits of ICT in increasing access, equity, quality, and scope of teaching and learning experiences have, for long, been advocated by scholars. This understanding has also influenced government policy to the extent that the provision of ICT-based resource in schools has increasingly featured as a necessary component of public expenditure on education at both the federal and state levels in Nigeria. The utilization of ICT tools in Colleges of Education (COEs) becomes imperative given that the prospective teachers they produce will operate in school systems and with students that are increasingly influenced by global trends in information explosion. But like most educational innovations, the use of ICT in schools should satisfy the key demands of availability and accessibility to all who demand it, effective utilization, and, above all, integration into all facets of curricular and pedagogical practices. It is in the light of this that this study undertook  an evaluation of ICT use in the four COE's in Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states using the three criteria of technology adoption outlined above. The study used the cross-sectional survey design since it aims at a description and evaluation of existing characteristics of a large population of respondents in these colleges by concurrently studying different samples drawn from that population. Data were collected using questionnaires administered on lectures and computer laboratory technicians in these COE, and analyzed using percentages and means. The major finding of the study is that ICT presence in these schools is still peripheral due to lack of access to internet connectivity. It was therefore recommended that the schools should expand their ICT capability, the students be given proper orientation and training on the uses and benefits of ICT and that ICT integration must begin from the teacher training curriculum of the institutions.

my_expectations

In my school where I am teaching, student are engage in teaching and learning activities via board and chalk. The most disheartening part of the story is, my school has more than two computer laboratory equipped with computers and even connected to internet, yet students are taught in traditional method. My expectations on this online programme are numerous but challenging. They are numerous for I expect to learn how to effective integrate new ICT tools in the stream of teaching and learning, in particular integrating these tools in ESL classes via posting blogs, Google forms and audio visuals tools. My expectations are challenging, one considering the nature of our (Nigeria) internet connectivity, students readiness and their accessibility to the required ICT tools. 

Pictures in teaching reading fluency

A study was carried out to explored the effect of Pictures in teaching reading fluency skills to primary three pupils in Sokoto metropolis, in Sokoto state (Nigeria). The purpose is to investigate whether or not Pictures in teaching reading fluency skills, influence the achievement level of the participants between genders and groups as against the conventional chalk and board method, in the study area. The study sampled 178 pupils randomly from eight primary schools. Mixed design research method was employed in the study, where attitude and aptitude of the subjects of the experimental group were measured before and after the treatment. Six research questions were asked, and four hypotheses generated which were statistically tested at 0.05 levels of significant. T-test, two ways analysis of variance (2 – way ANOVA) and Wilcoxon 2 sign test were employed to test the hypothesis accordingly. Guided reading passages with Pictures were used to teach the experimental group, while the control group was exposed to the same passages but taught traditionally with chalk board and teacher talk. It was found that there was significant difference between those exposed to Pictures compared to those exposed to chalk and teacher talk traditional method of teaching. It was also discovered that no significant difference exist between gender within the experimental group, as there was also no significant difference observed between gender and groups (experimental and control). On the basis of these findings, it was concluded that Pictures are effective tools in teaching reading fluency skills to primary three pupils, particularly in the study area, and that Pictures are gender friendly. The study therefore recommends that primary school teachers should be encouraged to use Pictures in their teaching, ICT should as a matter of urgency be embedded in teacher training curriculum, and most importantly, the teacher training institutions, should have a Reading Instruction Research Centre to cater for the needs of the reading instructors as well as the needs of the pupils in terms of materials development.