Information and Communication Technology challenges and Strategies among Office Technology and Management Educators in Nigerian Polytechnics

Abstract

The changes in work processes and business organizations as well as the model of transmission and exchange of information in the globalized economy call for transformation in the teaching and learning process in Office Technology and Management (OTM) to reflect the emphasis in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The major purpose of the study was, therefore, to assess the extent of utilization, challenges and strategies of ICT for repositioning OTM programme in Nigerian Polytechnics. Three research questions were generated and three null hypotheses were also formulated to guide the study. A survey design was adopted and the study was carried out in all Polytechnics offering OTM in South-South Nigeria. The population for the study comprised 85 OTM Educators. The entire population was studied hence no sampling techniques. A 45-item questionnaire was used for data collection. A reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained from Cronbach Alpha reliability test used. Seventy-eight (78) copies out of the eighty-five (85) copies of the questionnaire administered were collected and analysed. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using t-test statistic at 0.05 level of significance. It was found that ICT was not effectively utilized in the institutions studied because of many challenges. However, many strategies for improving the utilization of ICT were identified. It was, therefore, recommended that government and the management of the institutions should endeavour to ameliorate the challenges with the identified strategies.