CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1.    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In the Nigerian Secondary schools and tertiary institutions, private secondary and university education in Nigeria are the responsibility of entrepreneurs, agencies or groups such as religious bodies, communities, universities and corporate bodies. Over the years, the internet has been a very important instrument for facilitating academic activities in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The information and communication technology revolution is sweeping through the world and the gale has even caught up with developing countries like Nigeria. There has been a tremendous growth in the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web for finding and sharing information. The Internet originated from government and academia and spread to business and industry (Shelley, 2002). According to Agil, and Ahmad (2011) the internet is the transport vehicle for the information stored in files or documents on a computer. It carries together various information and services, such as web basedmail, online chat, file transfer, the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web. In today world, the Internet plays a vital role in the teaching, research and learning process in academic institutions. Thus, the advent of the Internet has heralded the emergence of a new form of knowledge production and distribution – the soft form. This new form of information resources has, as its greatest advantage, a virtually unlimited wealth of information resources which is widely readily available and accessible to hundreds of millions of people simultaneously in many parts of the world (Kumar & Kaur 2006). The Internet is a powerful and efficient tool for searching, retrieving, and disseminating information, with a significant impact on students and scholar’s world wide. The Internet can be consulted and like a reference resource, it is broader and highly dynamic. It also provides a means of scholarly communication ( Brunning, Schraw, Norby &Ronning, 2004). The Internet has liberated scholarship from the academic, social, legal, political, economic and geographical constraints associated with traditional print media (Kuma & Kaur 2006). This liberation has had a major effect on scholar’s research capacity and productivity. It has also aided scholars, who want to stay at the forefront of research and keep up to date with developments in his or her research fields by utilizing the Internet (Kumar & Kaur 2006).

1.2.    STATEMENT OF THE GENERAL PROBLEM

The poor internet accessibility and usage programs in our tertiary institutions have become worse by the day as this has grossly affected the academic performance/achievement and productivity of our undergraduates. This has by extension affected the development of tertiary education in the country. Though government through respective school authorities and other relevant bodies have tried to improve the utilization of web based resources but regrettably the problem has persisted.

1.3.    AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The major aim of the study is to examine the impact of web based resources and the utilization on the performance of undergraduate students of vocational and technical students Nigeria. Other specific objectives of the study include,

1.  To examine the need for internet utilization among Nigerian students.

2.  To examine the level of utilization of web based resources in Nigerian tertiary institutions.

3.  To examine the significant relationship between utilization of web-based resources and academic performance of undergraduate students in Nigeria.

4.  To recommend ways of improving the utilization of web based resources in Nigerian tertiary institutions.

1.4.    RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.  Is there need for internet utilization among Nigerian students?

2.  What is the level of utilization of web based resources in Nigerian tertiary institutions?

3.  What is relationship between utilization of web-based resources and academic performance of undergraduate students in Nigeria?

4.  What are the ways of improving the utilization of web based resources in Nigerian tertiary institutions?

1.5.    RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: There is no significant relationship between utilization of web-based resources and academic performance of undergraduate students in Nigeria.

H1: There is a significant relationship between utilization of web-based resources and academic performance of undergraduate students in Nigeria.

1.6.    SIGNFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study would be of immense benefit towards the improvement of the web based resources and its utilization across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions with the sole aim of improving students academic performance/achievement which would by extension improve the educational standard of the country, the study would also benefit students, researchers and scholars who are interested in developing further studies on the subject matter.

1.7.    SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study is restricted to the impact of web based resources and utilization on the performance of undergraduates of vocational and technical education using ATBU Bauchi state as the case study.

Limitation of the study

Financial constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview)

Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.