CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The effects of information and communication ICT on academic performance of students in higher education programmes has been topic of a good deal of debate. This is because information and communication Technology ICT has become key tools and had a revolutionary impact of how we see the world and how we live in it.
This phenomenon has given origin to the contemporary and advances in our ways of life. There is drastic improvement on how students and lecturers explore benefits from information and Communication Technologies ICTs opportunities academic research, teaching and learning.
Information and communication technology ICT is the technology that ahs made positive impact in information generation, storage, retrieval and transmission or communication. Adeyinka, (1999). According to Adeya (2005), information and Communication Technologies ICTs cover internet services provision, telecommunications equipments and services, information technology equipment and services, media and broadcasting, libraries and documentation centres, commercial information providers, network based information services and other related information and communication activities.
Higher education is approaching the point at which information and communication Technology (ICT), plays a part in nearly all phases of the educational process. Every institutions higher learning uses computers in their educational programmed and Lagos State University is not exempted. Today such issues like Global Mobile System of Communication (GSM), digitalization of information such as texts, numbers and sound are commonly used. They have inevitably become part of the information society and have encouraged easy access to data, records and information and above all made transmission of information among individuals million of miles always possible and less cumbersome.
However, the real challenge of information and communication is not the development of technology, but how to apply and use it for academic. Chukuwunonso (2004) is of the opinion that technology is developing faster than our ability to adopt it. The greatest difficulty is getting people to change.
John (1999) posits that Information Technology IT policies have been inconsistently developed or are lacking in many instances in higher institutions. According to him, where they exist, institutions have implemented policies regarding the sue of computers in educational programs unevenly.
Oyediran (2004) carried out surveys on awareness and adoption of information and communication Technology (ICT) by educators in Nigeria”. It reveals that capacity development of the educators and ICT facilities that can integrate IT culture into educational system of undergraduates have been taken for granted.
Nwaboku, (2002) notes that the present state (Teacher chalk—Board Method) is highly pathetic bearing in mind the obvious capacity of the computer and ICT such as that it ensues creative and independent learning, immediate feedback and the provision of unparallel interaction. The various technologies such as the slide projector, computers laptops, internets, world wide web and so on have been promoted over last 100 years to revolutionize education. But the problems is that, are these ICT facilities reality available in Nigerian schools. It can also be examine that to what extent is the students knowledge of technical know how (skill) support use of information and communication technology for academic solutions in schools.
The evidence is clear that there are many problems with the current academic system. The fact of matter is that Nigeria tertiary intuitions instructional methods have not changed over the last 50 years. Chukwunonso (2004) in the long run, the effectiveness of these ICT and new digital tools will be dependent on the way in which ICT policies are evaluated and implemented.