THE USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) IN SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES (SPGS) FOR MANPOWER TRAINING

Abstract

The study adopted a descriptive survey design which sought information on the use of ICT in school of postgraduate studies (SPGS) for manpower training. The study was conducted in SPGS in state universities in South Easte rn Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. The population for the study comprised all the postgraduate (PG) students in the state universities. Random sampling was used to select 300 PG students (100 each) f r o m t h r e e s t a t e u n i v e r si ti e s. A q u e s t i o n n ai r e e n t itl e d “ U s e o f I C T i n S c h o ol o f Postgraduate Studies for Manpower Training†was developed by researchers and used for data collection. The validity of the instrument were established by two experts; one in measurement and evaluation unit and one in  ICT unit all in Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University. The reliability of the instrument was determined using test - retest method. P e a r s o n p r o d u c t m o m e n t c o r r ela t io n c o - e f fi c i e n t w a s u s e d t o o b t ai n a c o r r ela t io n c o efficient of 0.87. Mean was used to answer the research questions. A mean of 2.50 and above were acceptable while mean of 2.49 and below was not acceptable. The findings revealed among others that SPGS use ICT to deliver part of the learning content to the learners, supplement and extend con tent provided in a different form, prepare letters and m e m o s, a d v e r t is e a n d u p d a t e t h ei r p r o g r a m m e s, g a t h e r i n f o r m a t io n f o r r e s e a r c h a n d c o m m u ni c a t e i n f o r m a t io n t o s t u d e n t s a n d c olle a g u e s ; i t r e v e ale d t h a t I C T w a s n o t frequently used by teacher and postgra duate students in the classroom for manpower training . It also revealed the factors militating against the use of ICT to include: lack of teachers with skill and knowledge of ICT use, lack of ICT infrastructures and fund. It was recommended among others th at government should provide ICT infrastructure, and fund professional development of PG staff especially their teachers.