Recent development in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has resulted in tremendous progress in the area of communication and information dissemination, which contributed in making the world more interactive. This made transactions to emerge between people who may never meet. Also, the ICT is inexpensive and accessible easily throughout the global. Certainly, this permits instantaneous personal dialogue and communication between people around the world.
Education is central in the survival and growth of human being as individual and as society, each with its own ways and means of educating and socialising its members, as dictated by the societal culture. Every culture has a mechanism that adjusts and accommodates new developments happening within and outside the society which ensures continuity and effective transmission of the societal culture from generation to generation and guaranteed and safeguard the survival and development of the society. Mishandling of changes happening within and outside the society may cause significant effect on the culture of the society. The effects may cause retrogression, confusion, acculturation, or even extinction of the society in totality. In this context, each society develops and designs its educational system based on its tradition, culture, norms and values, to suit its environment and generation, and to carter for its immediate and future developmentalneedsandaspirations.Consequently,asaresultofdevelopmentinICT,
diverse ideas and cultures interact and interwoven, as such, new knowledge, ideas, cultures and values, are transferred from one place to another.
The manner, by which secondary schools?studentsin Osunstate usually glue themselves to ICT, by means of different kinds of devices, and for a considerable proportion of their time, is never unconnected with the availability and affordability of the devices in the country in recent times. Accordingly, the worry here is about what the students are doing on these devices. Findings of some studies revealed a huge patronage of the ICT devices among youths, while other studies revealed some positive as well as negative effects of such inclination on the youths. For instance, youths are becoming more and more overwhelmed by programmes available on the ICT, which in turn facilitate or erode their learning inclination and improve or retard their educational development. Empirical researches have established that, modern technologies such as computers and the Internet have become enmeshed in young people?s lives, the Kaiser report, of 2004 as cited in Shu-Sha and Subrahmanyam, (2009) confirmedthat:
74% of 8-year olds to 18-year olds in the United States had Internet access in their homes, more recently, the 2008 World Internet Project survey of 13 countries revealed that among youth 12-years to 14-years, 88% in the United States used the Internet; the percentage of Internet users in this age group was 100% in the United Kingdom, 98% in Israel, 95% in Canada, and over 70% in Singapore. Among adolescents, the communication applications of the Internet such as instant messaging, blogs, and social networking sites (e.g., MySpace, Face book) are especially popular. As the Internet has become pervasive in the lives of young people, their online activities and interactions have become the focus of intense research. It is becoming evident that the Internet presents risks as well as opportunities to adolescent development (Shu-Sha and Subrahmanyam,2009).
Also, the Shu-Sha and Subrahmanyam?s (2009) study attributed some negative attitudes such as „Internet addiction? as well as online risks such as „exposure to sexually explicit materials?and „onlinevictimisation?including „harassment?or „cyber bullying?and
„sexual solicitation? to the youths? inclination toward ICT. Thesereasonsalong with the government intention of further developing education in the country by means of ICT, prompted the research to assess the impact of ICT on selected senior secondary schools in Osun state. In this regard, schools were selected based on location; urban/rural, and gender; male/female. This is with a view to find out whether there are similarities or differences in their knowledge and usage of the ICT and its impact on their educational development.
For the fact that no country can live in isolation, and as the ICT has become part of our daily life, youths are becoming more and more susceptible to its effects. Accordingly, it is imperative for each society to study the effect of ICT on the societal life in order to develop those elements that are beneficial to its survival and avert what is detrimental to its growth and development. ICT is enormously enhancing people?s accessibility to knowledge and information across the globe, minimizing time waste, narrowing distance between people, and contributing significantly to the growth and development of societies. It is a known fact that, today?s college students have grown up with intrinsic technological innovations that are integrated into modes of communication, education, and socialization, (La Rose, Eastin, and Gregg (2001) in Everhart, (2011). In the same vein,prevalenceofnegativeattitudesamongyouths,suchaspornography,money
laundering, cultism, international terrorism and child abuse, may also be attributed to the unchecked accessibility of the ICT by the youths, (Omekwu 2005, cited in Aduwa,2006).
Senior secondary schools? students in Osun state nowadays commit considerable proportion of their time on ICT which ideally supposed to positively impact on their educational development. However, for the fact that most schools lack an effective method of guidance on issues pertaining to ICT, the students are therefore left with the choice of their preferences on ICT. This made most of them to be carried away by the funny side of it, using most of their time on social media, chatting with friends and many things alike. Consequently, the study was conducted to assess the effect of the ICT on educational development in state through the identification of the level of awareness and utilasationoftheICTanditseffectonthestudents?academicactivitiesandperformance.
Main objective of the study was to assess the impact of ICT on the educational development of senior secondary schools? students of OsunState. Other objectives are to:
Osun state.
Scope of the study in terms of population was limited to some selected senior secondary schools?studentsinOsunStatedrawnfromsixsecondaryschoolsacrossthestate;two each from the three senatorial zones. While in terms of period, the study covers the period between 2000 and 2014. This enables linkage between the era of little or none availability of GSM and most ICT devices and the epoch of proliferation of such apparatuses in Nigeria. The period that marked an unprecedented public exposure to ICT and its apparatuses became very much available, affordable and accessible to most average Nigerians. Also, with respect to ICT, the study limits itself to Internet and International Satellite Media. In terms of academic performance, the study was limited to the annual progress report provided by the schools on students? performance in final examinations; Senior Secondary School Certificate of Education (SSCE) and National Certificate of Education (NECO). In addition, academic activities were limited to students?attendanceofextralessons,tutorials,goingtolibraries,andreadingathome.
In accordance with the foregoing, the choice of some selected senior secondary schools?students in Osun state was basically for the fact that, large proportion of the youths are in the senior secondary schools, and they are at the point of transition to tertiary institutions and from childhood to adulthood. In addition, they are the potential reservoir for the Nigeria?s human capital. Also, senior secondary schools?students are seen as a depiction of the youths, thus, they can easily be studied to ascertain the effects of the ICT on youths in general. Furthermore, the study attempted a comparison of urban and rural students to identify whether there are areas of convergence or divergence on aspects concerning the effects of ICT on them.
Key concepts in the study are: Educational Development, ICT, Internet, Satellite media, and Academic Activities.
Educational Development is multi dimensional concept, while some viewed from a broader perspective; that is, it encompassed instructional, curriculum, organizational, and some aspects of faculty development. Some viewed it from the narrower perspective, that is, it focused on the teaching domain, as opposed to all aspects of academic career development”, (Bédard, Clement & Taylor, 2008 P.2).
In this study, Educational Development refers to the narrower view of the concept; that is the focus was on the teaching domain.
Information Technology means computers, ancillary equipment, software and firmware (Hardware) and similar procedures, services (including support services) and related resources. It includes any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission or reception of data or information. (National IT Policy, 2000).
Information and Communication Technology (ICT): ICT according to Gokhe, (2013) is “Technology that supports activities involving information. Such activities include gathering, processing, storing and presenting data. Increasingly these activities also involve collaboration and communication”. ICT include any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or receive information electronically in a digital form, such as personal computers, digital television, email, or robots.
Online dictionary.com described Internet as:
the publicly available worldwide system of interconnected computernetworks that transmit data by packet switching using a standardised Internet Protocol (IP) and many other protocols. It is made up of thousands of smaller commercial, academic, and government networks. It carries various information and services, such as electronic mail, onlinechat and the interlinked web pages and other documents of the WorldWide Web. Because this is by far the largest, most extensive internet
(with a small i) in the world, it is simply called the Internet (with a capital
I) (Online dictionary.com)
Accordingly, in this study, Internet is referred as „All available fora that exists on network for public consumption, which can be used for sharing or gaining information or knowledge and can be usedinstantaneously.
A Satellite media is:
Television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic reflector generally referred to as a satellitedish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an external set-top box or a satellite tuner module built into a TV set. Satellite TV tuners are also available as a card or a USB peripheral to be attached to a personal computer. In many areas of the world satellite television provides a wide range of channels and services, often to areas that are not serviced by terrestrial or cableproviders.(Wikipedia)
Consequently, Satellite media in this study refers to „those media that alwaysrelates their programmes in audio or audio visual forms, without interruption, and are available and accessible globally, and are seldom bounded by laws of any particular nation,?.
Performance according to Microsoft Encarta dictionary, (2009) refers to working effectiveness: the way in which somebody does a job, judged by its effectiveness.
Performance also means, “accomplishment of something: the act of carrying out or accomplishing something such as a task or action”.
Inthisstudy,Academicperformancerefersto„students?SSCE,andNECOexaminations outcome?. While academic activities refers to „students? „outside classes? activities including extra lessons, tutorial, their attendance of library and their reading at home.
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