ABSTRACT
The use of
Electronic Information Resources (EIRs) has become inevitable for higher
education students in the digital age, given the volume of academic materials
that are available in electronic rather than print format. Effective use of
these resources depends on whether students have the requisite skills to access
and effectively use them. Studies have shown that EIRs have been underutilized
by undergraduates in Nigeria. The study investigated the influence of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills and information literacy
on the use of EIRs by students of the National Open University (NOUN) in
South-West, Nigeria.
The survey research
design was adopted for the study. The population of study was 8,812
undergraduates of the National Open University in South-West, Nigeria.
Multistage sampling procedure was used. Three states (Lagos, Ondo and Oyo) were
randomly selected, using ballot system. Three study centers were purposively
selected from the three states. Proportionate to size sampling method was used
to select 802 students in 400 and 500 levels across all disciplines from the
study centers. Data were collected with a validated questionnaire. The
Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for each of the constructs ranged from
0.74 to 0.92. A response rate of 71.3% was obtained. Data were analyzed using
descriptive and inferential (correlation and regression) statistics.
Findings showed that
there were significant relationships between EIRs use and ICT skills (r=0.389; p<.05)
and EIRs use and information literacy (r=0.439; p<.05). The two
variables jointly influenced the use of EIRs among NOUN students (Adj. R2 = 0.209,
F(2,568) =76.524, p<.05).
It was found that ICT skills positively influenced the use of EIR (β = .181, t
=6.479 =101.40, p<.05) as did information literacy (β = .323, t
=6.617,
p<.05).
The study concluded
that the students of NOUN in South-West, Nigeria were highly skilled in ICT use
and their information literacy level was high which reflected in their use of
EIRs. The study recommended that NOUN library should train students on how to
make effective use of information by offering ‘Use of library’ as a course. The
administration of NOUN and other universities should provide the enabling
environment in the libraries and on their campuses to facilitate the use of
electronic information resources.
Keywords:
Electronic information resources, ICT skills, Information
literacy, NationalOpen University of Nigeria, Undergraduates
Word Count: 363
Content Page
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
CHAPTER
FIVE: SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
LIST
OF TABLES
LIST
OF FIGURES
APPENDICES
ACRONYMS
ACRL
BUHREC
CD-ROM
CILIP
EIR
ICT
NOUN
ODL
SCONUL
UNESCO
WWW
Association of College and Research Libraries
Babcock University Health Research Committee
Compact Disc Read Only Memory
Chattered Institute of Library and Information Practitioners
Electronic Information Resources
Information and Communication Technology
National Open University of Nigeria
Open and Distance Learning
Society of College, National and University Librarians
United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
World Wide Web
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
to the Study
The
use of electronic information resources in learning and research by undergraduates
has become indispensable in this digital age where globalization of education
is made possible through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). We are
currently living in an information society where there is exponential growth in
information accessible through ICT especially the Internet. This has given rise
to virtual learning, learning at a distance and globalization of education.
Tinio (2002) averred that globalization and technological change have created a
new global economy that is powered by technology, fueled by information and
driven by knowledge. This new global economy implies that as information
continues to grow exponentially, schools cannot remain mere venues for the
transmission of a prescribed set of information from teacher to student over a
fixed period of time but schools must promote learning to learn as knowledge
becomes more dynamic.
The
emergence of electronic information resources (EIRs) has greatly transformed
information handling and management in Nigerian university communities (Adeleke
& Emeahara, 2016). Electronic information resources (EIRs) or simply
electronic resources (e-resources) are information stored in electronic format,
in computer or computer related facilities such as CD-ROMs, flash drives, digital
libraries or the Internet. EIRs provide easy access to vast amount of
information remotely which is becoming more popular globally (Tinio, 2023).
EIRs offer have potential advantages and benefits over the print in an
electronic information environment. The Internet is a computer network that
connects millions of computers globally. It is referred to as global
communication network, global information system, information superhighway,
network of networks and cyberspace. Electronic resources have been embraced in
academic spheres. It is used for general communication, information retrieval
and instructional delivery to support teaching, learning and research
activities in tertiary institutions. The Internet is referred to as a global
information resource that contains all sources of
information across
academic disciplines. The World Wide Web (WWW) helps in navigating through
different electronic resources.
The
use of electronic information resources (EIRs) affords researchers and students
the opportunity to have access to global information resources, especially the
Internet for their scholarly work. Higher education students make use of EIRs
for many purposes; mostly for academic purpose that is, retrieving current
literature for studies and prepare for examinations, to do class assignments,
to carry out research projects, and to communicate and collaborate with peers
and teachers via the Internet on e-mail or by following blog discussions
(Adeniran, 2013). Students use the World Wide Web (WWW), e-books and e-journal
articles to acquire knowledge and carry out research work (Ajayi, Shorunke
& Aboyade, 2014). Course materials are provided on CD-ROM for students’ use
which affords them to peruse as convenient. With the emergence of ICT, electronic
information resources (EIRs) have become widely used and accepted among
scholars and have increased tremendously in volume around the globe (Oyedapo
& Ojo, 2013). All these resources have really influenced learning and
improved the quality of education as this is evident in distance learning.
However, literature revealed low usage of EIRs by undergraduates in Nigeria
(Omoike, 2013).
The
developments in ICT have changed the way information is organized, presented
and accessed today. Information is a collection of meaningful, interrelated and
organized data. It is a completely processed data. It implies a message
received and understood. It is also a knowledge acquired either through study
or through the reception of an instruction (Aina, 2004). Information helps
reduce uncertainty, increases the state of knowledge of a person and aids his
decision making. Tiwari, Tiwari, and Sharma (2013) opined that information is
the key factor of any kind of research and development and it is a fundamental
resource which is essential for survival in today’s competitive and wired
world. Information is therefore vital to the success and achievement of every
student and most importantly, higher education students in today’s educational
system. The availability, access to and use of the right information will pave
the way for the academic success of students in higher institutions of
learning. This is provided by the library.
The
University library is saddled with the responsibility of providing relevant
information resources for users in order to support research, teaching,
learning, and community service. The library is, therefore, a learning center
and is regarded as the heart of the intellectual system of the university. The
provision of library and information services is one of the essential support
services that should be made available in any distance learning program.
According to Sacchanand (2002), the library plays a significant role in
enhancing the quality of distance education programs and is a key indicator in
quality assurance. The university library selects, acquires, processes and
makes available information resources in different formats ranging from print,
audio-visual, microforms and electronic resources. The provision of electronic
library makes it possible to have easy access to electronic information
resources and services. This has been made possible by information and
communication technology which has improved the potential for access in the
information age as information resources are now made available in electronic
format. Libraries, especially university libraries now subscribe to electronic
information resources (EIRs) like e-book, e-journals, online databases, CD-ROM
databases, and so on. These resources are invaluable resources that complement
print-based resources (Dadzie, 2005) and they constitute a larger number in the
university library’s bibliographic system.
EIRs
have many advantages over printed materials in that they can be accessed
anytime, anywhere and they do not occupy much space like printed materials. As
Varghese (2008) asserted, the availability of information in electronic media
has created opportunities for global access to information, enhanced the speed
of service, increased the number of users served, increased the quality of
information provided, and offered new opportunities for students to find
relevant information. Students are able to access up-to-date international
literature as soon as it is published on the Internet from the libraries,
student IT centers, internet cafes, work places and their homes. It is
therefore important that higher education students be equipped with the
research tools necessary to access EIRs. This is particularly necessary for
distance learning students. Moreover, Yalman, Basaran and Gonen (2016) averred
that knowledge of ICT and related skills plays an important role in today’s
educational activities. Therefore, every distance
learning students
should possess these skills in order to be able to participate effectively and
successfully as they make use of electronic information resources in learning.
In
the understanding of Tinio (2002), ICT refers to forms of hardware and software
applications that are used to transmit, store, create, share or exchange
information. They may include high-tech devices such as computers and software
as well as the more conventional technologies such as radio, television, and
telephone technology, Digital Virtual Drive (DVD), satellite systems, video
conferencing and electronic mail. Information technology has influenced the way
libraries generate, organize, store, retrieve and disseminate information;
libraries now rely on ICT to manage, access and deliver information services;
ICTs have become powerful tools for teaching, learning, research and participation
in the twenty first century. It has afforded people anywhere to learn at any
time, making learning flexible. The application of ICT in education has
increased access to higher education, improved quality of education and
afforded students competitive advantage globally. Therefore, ICT skills are
highly needed by students to engage in distance learning. Craig (2007) posited
that ICT skills involve all the ability to receive digital data, the storage of
the data on a computer device and the skill to retrieve the data and transmit
it. ICT skills are the skills students need to access, evaluate, communicate
information and produce document electronically by the use of computers and
communication technologies (Buarki & Ian Murray, 2011). Effective use of electronic
information resources depend on ICT skills and information literacy, hence,
distance learning students must be ICT and information literate. In lieu of
this, there is therefore the need to equip or prepare distance learners with
the ICT skills necessary for them to function well in the digital environment.
Literacy
has been defined by UNESCO (2005) as the ability to identify, understand,
interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials
associated with varying contexts. This involves a continuum of learning
enabling an individual to achieve his or her goals, develop his or her
knowledge or potentials, and participate fully in the community and wider
society. According to the American Library Association (1989), an information
literate person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have
the ability to locate, evaluate and
effectively use the
retrieved information. Information literacy is therefore the skills required to
identify, locate, evaluate and to effectively use information to perform a
given task or take proper decision. In addition, information literacy refers to
people’s ability to understand the world of information, locate, evaluate, use
and create information to solve problems and perform tasks. The Alexandria
Proclamation of 2005 recognizes information literacy as basic human rights in
the digital world as it empowers individuals in all walks of life to
effectively use information to achieve their personal, social, occupational and
educational goals. Information literacy enhances students’ use of the library
and its resources. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)
(2000) stated that information literacy competencies for distance learning
students should be comparable to the standards set for on-campus students.
Information
literacy is a booster for the utilization of the increasing amount of
electronic information resources available which could lead to information
overload. Thus, information literacy has been considered as a core competency
to improve learners’ lifelong learning quality (SCONUL, 1999). Moreover, the
library promotes lifelong learning and information literacy forms the basis for
lifelong learning as it enables learners at all levels to be informed, make
decisions, and have control over their learning and interactions with the
society. However, literature has revealed low level of information literacy of
undergraduate students in Nigeria (Oyedum, 2010; Omoike, 2013) which could
affect their ability to utilize required information resources for academic
success and better decision making in life situations.
Bundy
(2004) asserted that exhaustive information and technologies cannot itself make
people more informed without a required skill and capacity to use information
progressively. However, the possession of ICT skills enhances information
literacy in this digital era. The rapid growth and application of the Internet
in education with the increasing growth in available information has called for
a much wider understanding of the importance of information literacy in the
academic community and much more in the distance learning system. Librarians
and teachers need to work together so as to help students achieve higher levels
of literacy, reading, learning, problem-solving and ICT skills.
Information
literacy is inevitable for higher education students if they will be able to
use electronic information resources (EIRs), thus their abilities to use EIRs
effectively depend so much on the their level of information literacy. An
electronic resource is defined as any work encoded and made available for
access through the use of a computer. Electronic Information resources (EIRs)
can be defined as any information bearing materials that provide access to
users in a digital or in an electronic format. EIRs or (e-resources) are an
important components of academic institutions because they support learning
that is, learning, teaching and research (Egberongbe, 2011). EIRs are very
important in higher education and have become important component in library
collections as substantial amounts are being devoted to these resources in the
library budget. An electronic resource can be a bibliography of full text
database that allows one to search for relevant articles in its subject area
such as a book or a journal that is available in electronic format on web pages
or in a CD-ROM. This includes electronic data made available by remote and
direct access.
In
view of the fact that technological revolution has brought about information
explosion, the increase in information due to the advancement of ICT, higher
education students therefore need to develop skills, especially ICT skills and
to have the ability to identify, search, retrieve, evaluate, organize and
communicate information in electronic format so as to enhance their learning
and to be able to synergize with their peers and teachers or supervisor to
carryout research. These are most times found out to be majorly lacking in most
undergraduate students in Nigeria (Oyedapo & Ojo, 2013). Reasons that could
be responsible for this include poor basic knowledge of ICT skills as most
colleges in the country today lack both the personnel and the basic facilities
for the teaching of computer. Some of those exposed to basic computer knowledge
do not possess the requisite skill that could qualify them as being computer
literate.
Proficiency
in information literacy requires the constant use of EIRs through ICT to which
many students lack access. A large proportion of access to EIRs is still
through public information centers which are located mainly in the business
areas of major cities and towns only, access to which comes at a cost. Learners
located in semi–urban and distant rural areas may not even have access at all.
Having personal access to EIRs devices such as i-pad, laptop, modem comes at
even a higher cost (Ojeniyi & Adetimirin,
2013). The speed of
the Internet servers in most public information centers is so slow it can
discourage a learner just developing ICT skills as the slow speed increases the
cost of time spent. Even for the few with personal electronic learning devices,
inconsistent power supply is a major challenge. All these linked together could
be said to contribute to the observed inadequate ICT skills and information
literacy of distance learning students in Nigeria. This major lacuna is the gap
that this study is set out to fill. This study is particularly important since
distance learning students often times make use of electronic information
resources which depend on the use of ICT for access, utilization, sharing and
presentation. Therefore this study seeks to investigate the ICT skills,
information literacy and use of electronic information resources by NOUN
students in South-West, Nigeria.
Distance
learning is the type of education where students seldom come in physical
contact with teachers. This form of education includes weekend and online
education programmes. The goals of distance education in Nigeria as specified
in the National policy on education are to provide access to quality education
and equity in educational opportunities for those who would have been denied,
to meet special needs of employers by mounting special certificate courses for
their employees at their work place, to encourage internationalization of
tertiary education curricula, and to reduce the effect of internal/external
brain drain in tertiary institutions by utilizing Nigerian experts as teachers
regardless of their locations or places of work (Federal Republic of Nigeria,
2004). This led to the initial establishment of the National Open University of
Nigeria on 22 July, 1983 as a facilitator for open and distance learning in
Nigeria but it was suspended by the government on 25th April 1984.
However, the indisputable need for distance education in ensuring access,
equity and education for all led to its resurgence on the 12th of April, 2001.
The
open nature of distance education (DE) involves open admissions and freedom of
students to select what, where and when to learn. It is flexible in terms of
organizational structures, delivery and communication patterns, and makes use
of various technologies to support learning (Okebukola, 2014). Distance
education programme is open to anyone irrespective of sex, age, origin and
place. The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is an Open and Distance
Learning (ODL) institution, the first of its kind in the West African
sub-region. NOUN has deployed enormous ICT facilities for
staff and students’
use in order to enhance distance learning. Also, NOUN employs a range of
delivery methods to take education to the people and make education easier,
interesting and achievable. Among the methods employed are television and radio
broadcast of educational programmes, electronic transmission of materials in
multimedia (voice, data, graphics and video) through fixed line (telephone or
leased lines), terrestrial and VSAT wireless communication systems. However,
there cannot be effective distance learning without the application of ICT both
in the teaching and learning process, and this also cannot be without having
the required skills to match.
1.2 Statement
of the Problem
The
university education system is developing and advancing both in the application
of technology to its teaching, learning and research processes. Distance
learning is a peculiar type of university education with limited interaction
between teacher and students thus, students have to rely more on different
forms of learning resources. Towards achieving its set objectives, the National
Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) set up various ICT tools for use by staff and
students. It has also acquired electronic information resources in an attempt
to enhance the teaching and learning process to meet up with the global trend
and standard of education. Electronic information resources have indeed become
very important to higher education students in accessing up-to-e information at
the right time and in the right form. They enable students to have access to
quality information and offer opportunity for searching multiple database files
per time which has reduced the time spent by students searching for information
in the print media. Yet, the availability of these devices does not guarantee
their effective and efficient use if students lack the corresponding skills for
their use.
Despite
the high dependence of distance learning on ICT and the great potentials EIR
holds for effective teaching, learning and research in universities, studies
have revealed that electronic information resources are grossly underutilized
(Omoike, 2013). Perhaps, a low level of information literacy and inadequate or
lack of ICT skills by students in tertiary institutions could be responsible
for this situation. The need to achieve greater utilization of EIRs by
undergraduate students who constitute a significant
percentage of the user community in universities makes it imperative to identify the factors affecting the effective use of these resources. It is against this background that the researcher intends to examine the relationship between ICT skills, information literacy and the use of electronic information resources by the distance students of NOUN in South-West, Nigeria.
ICT SKILLS, INFORMATION LITERACY AND USE OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION RESOURCES BY STUDENTS OF NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA
