ICT AND EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS WITH REHABILITATION EDUCATION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

The  capability  of  assistive  technology  in  education  classes  for  students  with  special needs is enormous. Some of the advantages of using technology include promoting academic success for students with disabilities in the field of writing, mathematics, spelling, reading and+ comprehension, enhancing their organizing capability and most importantly encouraging their social inclusion in society (Quenneville, 2015). Support or assistive  technology offers many  advantages  by  assisting writing  for  students with disabilities who  usually  find writing  to be cumbersome  (MacArthur,  2006).  Once  students  overcome  writing  issues,  they  tend  to  be more successful within the general  education  environment. Also most of the learners with disabilities find  it challenging  to  retain  information  from  the  standard  syllabus. Many  teachers  face difficulty adapting  curriculum  as  per  the  learning  requirements  of  children  with certain disabilities like learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities without  any external assistance. Hence, it has become all the more important to focus on this issue to help teachers incorporate technology within the classroom to promote learning  of  learners with educational rehabilitation (Wilson & Cleland., 2011).

The Office of Special Education Programs (2011) recommends the usage  of  commonly  available  technology  for  children  with  disabilities that need rehabilitation to  be  included  within  the classroom. Also, the No Child Left behind Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2002) has acted as a catalyst in improving school facilities to meet the needs of the children with disabilities that needs rehabilitation. Even  though most of  the schools  have  responded  positively  to  implement  the  required  changes,  some  of  the educational  institutes  do  not  have  the  right  direction  regarding  the  correct measures  to  be taken on students that need education rehabilitation. They  are  confused  regarding  the  key  elements  that  can  result  in  effective  organized change and the manner  in which  the  teachers can be supported  to assist learning of students with  disabilities  (Reed, Clifford &  Svedkauskaite,  2004). Most of them have implemented assistive technologies for students with disabilities to create a well-defined approach towards change that can benefit all categories of students, even that group of children acknowledged by the NCLB Act. Use of assistive  technology to aid  learning of children with disability  is, thus,  gaining  prominence  with  the  widespread  usage  and  easy  availability  of  technology. Hence,  looking  to  the  importance  of  this  subject,  it will  act  as  an  informative  source  for educational providers to guide them further in their endeavor to aid learning of children with disabilities.

ICT (information and communications technology) is an umbrella term that includes any communication or application which encompassing radio, television, cellular phones, satellite systems, computer and network hardware or software and so on (www.searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/sDefinition/). From the computing dictionary, ICT is the study of technology used to handle information and aid communication (www.dictionary.refrence.com.). Nowadays, ICT is rapidly develop in many of countries which due to the globalization and technological change. Recently, ICT is widely use in many areas or sectors such as education, economy, politics and social. Especially for education, many countries now regard understanding ICT as part of the core of education, alongside writing, reading and numeracy. The emergence of ICT has made an improvement on the education for every student with learning disabilities as it brings a lot of advantages for every student with learning disabilities. For many teacher, ICT also had improved their effectiveness on the teaching process which in turn could help the student with learning disabilities to enhance their educational performance. That goes without saying that ICT has gradually become a part of the life for every student with learning disabilities and teacher. Thus, how can we imagine that without the help of ICT on education? In recent years, the computers and internet have shown their effectiveness and efficiency in education. Besides, ICT has also improved the learning environment of student with learning disabilities. For ICT, if we used appropriately, it could help to expand the access to education for student with learning disabilities and raise the quality of education by reinforcing the relevance of education. E-learning, blended learning and distance learning are the various types of learning that arise from the ICT.

Teachers of students with disabilities are facing serious instructional challenges as the diversity of students within each rehabilitation centre continues to widen. Students with  such  academic  range with  different  labels  as  gifted,  fast,  average,  slow and  below  average  learners  all  face  their  teachers  daily with  full  hope  that their needs will be met. Teachers with their efforts often need to carry several chats,  equipment  specimen  and  others  in  order  to  teach  a  single  topic effectively.  However,  these  materials  are  often  either  unavailable  or inaccessible; moreover,  teachers do not have enough  time between classes  to procure and test these materials. Hence, most rehabilitation classes are limited to uninspiring and sometimes incomprehensive verbal lectures.

The fact remain that the method of teaching in rehabilitation centre which have been investigated and found effective have not produced desired effect on students academic performance in school. The teacher are still attached to the traditional method of chalk and talk, the practice which makes them longer behind contemporary demand for improved learning system curriculum. The perceived benefits of using ICT in schools include making teaching. Leaning interesting helping in the distance learning programme, help teachers to be up-to date, enhancing quality of work by both teachers and students. Human capacity development through ICT facilities in secondary schools is in short fall. This hampers the performance of students with disabilities in rehabilitation centre. On this, the researcher is bothered on the accessibility and utilization of ICT on educational achievement of students with rehabilitation.

 

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The  persistent  poor  academic  performance  of  the students  with disabilities has  been  attributed  by  to  approaches or methods of teaching. The Federal Ministry of Education  (2007)  advocated for  a  change  in  the  strategies  of  imparting  rehabilitation instruction  to  the students with learning disabilities by using ICT facilities  like the Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI). The  approach,  according  to  UNESCO  (2002),  requires  adjustment  of  the educational  institutions  to  embrace  new  technology  and  appreciate  computer technology as a learning tool to transform the present  isolated, teacher-centred and  textbook  bound  classroom  into  student-centered  interactive  knowledge environment. It is on the basis of this that this study intended to investigate the influence of ICT on the educational achievement of students with rehabilitation education in Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo.

 

 

 

 

1.3       Purpose of the Study

This study investigates the influence of ICT on educational achievement of students with rehabilitation education in Federal College Education (Special) Oyo. Specifically, the study intended to:

1. investigate the level of accessibility of ICT in teaching students with rehabilitation education in Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo
2. determines the level of utilization of ICT in teaching students with rehabilitation education in Federal College of Education (Special) Oyo

• shows the extent to which ICT improve the educational achievement of students with rehabilitation education in Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo.

 

1.4       Research Questions

The following research questions were raised to guide the study:

1. What is the level of accessibility of ICT in teaching students with rehabilitation education in Federal College of Education (Special) Oyo?
2. What is the level of utilization of ICT in teaching students with rehabilitation education in Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo?

• To what extent does ICT improve the educational achievement of students with rehabilitation of Education (Special) Oyo?

 

 

1.5       Significance of the Study

The findings of  this study will benefit learning disabled students,  teachers, curriculum  developers  as  well  as  the  ministry  of  Education  and  future researchers.

Students with disabilities will benefit from the findings of the study as the use  of  ICT  to  study  and to rehabilitate  will  boost  their  performance  and retention. It will also help them to develop more interest and skill in the use of computers which will facilitate  the acquisition of knowledgeable skills such as sound societal values, norms and good attitude. The knowledge of their skill in computers will  also  help  them  to make  proper  career  choice  based  on  their capabilities on the use of computer assisted instructions.

The findings will help teachers in choosing an appropriate instructional material  capable  of  releasing  students’ tension towards  the  rehabilitation. It will motivate  teachers  to  develop  interest  towards  utilizing modern  instructional materials as computer assisted instruction (CAI),  and  selecting  suitable  teaching  methods  that  will be a possible means towards reducing failure in the  teaching and learning in the school. It will equally help teachers to develop suitable methods for assessing students’ academic performance in the school. The  findings  will  also sensitize  lecturers of disabilities on  the  benefits  of  the  use  of  computer  as  a strategy  for  lecturing  and  it  will  have  greater  effect  on  the  academic performance and  retention of  the students. The research findings will as well form another dimension of innovations in the teaching and learning while rehabilitating students with learning disabilities.

Curriculum planners will also benefit from the study, since, the results of  the  study  will  assist  in  curriculum  planning  such  as  giving  information relating  to  the  teaching and  learning in rehabilitation centre, computer can be utilized  in appropriate  strategies  of  curriculum  planning,  modification  and  revision.

Educational  researchers and scholars will benefit  from  the findings of this study as it will provide them with academic literature on the effects of the different  instructional  techniques  used  in  this  study  on  students’  academic performance and retention of learning in rehabilitation centre.

 

1.6       Scope of the Study

The study focused on the influence of ICT on educational achievement of students with rehabilitation education in FCE (SP) Oyo.  The scope covers Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo.

 

1.7       Definition of Terms

Computer: A computer is a device that accepts data (in the form of digitalized data) and manipulates it for some result based on a program or sequence of instructions on how the data is to be processed.

Rehabilitation: This means the process of correcting the disabilities in students.

ICT: This means Information and Communication Technology

 

Student: a person formally engaged in learning, especially one enrolled in a school or college. Also student can also be defined as any person who studies, investigates, or examines thoughtfully: a student of human nature.

Disabilities: This refers to some setbacks that face students. It may be physical or intellectual.

Assistive Technology: In this study, it means any object or system that increases or maintains the capabilities of people with disabilities.