INFLUENCE OF KEYBOARDING AND WORD-PROCESSING-II ABILITIES ON BUSINESS EDUCATION PUPILS’ EFFECTIVENESS IN WORDPROCESSING-IV IN INSTITUTIONS OF EDUCATION IN NORTH-WEST ZONE, NIGERIA  

ABSTRACT

 

This study assessed the influence of keyboarding and word processing II skills on business education students‘ effectiveness in word processing IV in the three Federal Colleges of Education, North-west zone, Nigeria. The study had five objectives, five research questions and five null hypotheses. Ex-post facto research design was used in the study with population and sample size of 70 students. Secondary data consisting of academic results of the students were collected from the Academic Boards of the three sampled Federal Colleges of Education in Zaria, Kano and Katsina. The data collected were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The results of the study showed that there is significant influence of business education students‘ high grades in keyboarding and word processing II on students‘ effectiveness in word processing IV as indicated by the correlation index value of 0.738, which is significant at 0.05 level. In addition, the study concluded that keyboarding and word processing II have significant influence on business education students‘ effectiveness in word processing IV in the North-west colleges of education in Nigeria. Based on the findings, the study had five recommendations among which is that business education students should be given regular trainings on keyboarding and word processing II to improve their effectiveness and proficiency in word processing IV in colleges of education in Nigeria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

 

        1.1       Background to the Study

The dynamism in the global economy which emerges as a result of technological changes has serious implications on education and the use of computers. This development has put more pressure on computer users to develop various skills needed in various fields of human endeavour. In an attempt to meet these new demands of world of work, educational institutions have drawn up computer-oriented curricula.

Despite the computer-oriented changes in the world, many educational institutions in Nigeria are still lacking behind. Ibrahim (2008) opined that the workplace has been completely taken over by ICT while our educational institutions are still graduating students who know next to nothing about ICT. Most of the Nigeria‘s institutions at all levels of education are either not adequately embracing the use of computer or not giving their students the needed training for the world of work

One of the higher educational institutions in Nigeria is College of

Education, where teachers are trained for primary and junior secondary schools. Most of these colleges of education have business education departments in their schools of Vocational and Technical Education. Adeshina and Aliyu (2012) defined business education as an integral part of education which equips her recipients with skills, knowledge and attitudes that would prepare them to enter into, and advance in any occupation of their choice.

Business Education at the Colleges of Education level is coordinated by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) with three year duration, mainly for the production of business teachers for primary and junior secondary schools. Business education programme has specialization options like accounting, marketing and secretarial. This programme, like every other educational programme yielded to the current challenges of changes in the global market by bringing in basic computer studies in order to produce graduates with necessary skills. The introduction of computer studies has impact on business education specialization especially secretarial option.

The secretarial option of business education which is a major concern of this study is designed to train secretaries and secretarial teachers.  This business education option has experienced a complete turnaround due to introduction of computer skills and which also replaced its traditional typewriting skills.  Development of secretarial education has been enhanced by the gradual displacement of typewriting subjects and replacement with computer keyboarding, wording processing, computer appreciation and some aspects of computer

application.

Keyboarding and word processing are fundamental computer skills required by all secretarial education students. These courses are distributed through all levels of business education programme in Colleges of Education with keyboarding and foundational word processing I at NCE I and NCE II levels respectively while word processing IV majorly for secretarial education option is taken at NCE III level. Okoduwa (2009) noted that keyboarding is the process of learning the correct manipulation of the computer or typewriter keyboard and using that keyboard for basic data input. Word processing on the other hand, is the advance usage of computer to educate learners on how to create business documents and also educate learners on how to implement keyboarding and computer skills on solving business records. In a bid to produce world class graduates in Federal Colleges of Education in Nigeria, keyboarding and word processing have now replaced all typewriting skills taught in business education.

It is against this backdrop that this study was conducted to assess the influence of keyboarding and word processing II skills on Business Education Students‘ effectiveness in word processing IV in the north-west zone of Nigeria where three Federal Colleges of Education, which are located in Kaduna, Kano and Katsina, were selected and used for the study.

 

 

 

 

 

 

        1.2       Statement of the Problem

Education in Nigeria provides its recipients with basic technological skills, but despite these provisions, most business education graduates still have little or no knowledge of computer. A cursory observation showed that most of the secretarial education students have poor related knowledge of keyboarding and word processing courses at lower levels in colleges of education. This has also affected their proficiency in secretarial education courses and their basic specialization skills for secretarial education in their final year.

A review of literature on variables influencing business education computer-oriented courses showed that there are few empirical works on studies assessing the influence of keyboarding and word processing II skills on business education students‘ effectiveness in colleges of education in Nigeria. This study was therefore conducted to extend the frontier of knowledge in this aspect by assessing the influence of keyboarding and word processing II skills on Business

Education Students‘ effectiveness in word processing IV in colleges of education in the north-west zone of Nigeria.

        1.3       Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to assess the influence of keyboarding and word processing II skills on Business Education Students‘ effectiveness in word processing IV in north-west zone, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to:

1. determine the influence of business education students‘ high grades in keyboarding on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria.
2. find out the influence of business education students‘ low grades in keyboarding on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria.
3. find out the influence of business education students‘ high grades in word processing II on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria.
4. determine the influence of business education students‘ low grades in word processing II on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria.
5. find out the influence of gender on the effectiveness of business education students in keyboarding, word processing II and word processing IV in North-west  zone, Nigeria .

                1.4             Research Questions

The following questions were raised in line with the specific objectives of the study.

1. What is the influence of business education students‘ high grades in keyboarding

on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria?

2. What is the influence of business education students‘ low grades in keyboarding on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria?
3. What is the influence of business education students‘ high grades in word processing II on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria?
4. What is the influence of business education students‘ low grades in word processing II on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria?
5. What is the influence of business education students‘ gender on the effectiveness of business education students in keyboarding, word processing II and word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria?

        1.5       Null Hypotheses

In line with the specific objectives and research questions raised, the following null hypotheses were formulated to aid the study.

1. There is no significant influence of business education students‘ high grades in keyboarding on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone,

Nigeria.

1. There is no significant influence of business education students‘ low grades in keyboarding on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria.

• There is no significant influence of business education students‘ high grades in word processing II on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria.

1. There is no significant influence of business education students‘ low grades in computer word processing II on their effectiveness in word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria.
2. There is no significant influence of business education students‘ gender on their effectiveness in keyboarding, word processing II and word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria.

 

        1.6       Significance of the study

The result of this study will be of benefit to business education students, business education lecturers, colleges of education, polytechnics and universities as well as other stakeholders in education such as the government, business education analysts and researchers.

For business education students, this work will be useful to them because it will help them improve their computer skills and proficiency in secretarial education courses in colleges of education in Nigeria.

The study will help business education lecturers to see the essential need for acquiring further refresher courses on computer courses and ICT retraining programme, which will assist them to key in and be up-to-date in today‘s everchanging ICT-oriented business world.

Colleges of Education, polytechnics and universities will find this work beneficial because it will outline ways of improving students‘ performance in computer skills while Government and other stakeholders in education will benefit from this work because it will highlight the advantages of computer skills in business education as well as the need to provide more ICT equipment for training and retraining of business education students in colleges of education in Nigeria.

Finally, this study will serve as a useful reference material for the business education analysts and a useful reference material for the business education researchers, who may be prompted to investigate further on the influence of keyboarding and word processing II skills on Business Education Students‘ effectiveness in other walks of life in Nigeria.

 

 

        1.7        Basic Assumptions of the Study

For the purpose of this work it was assumed that:

1. Students with at least distinction pass in Keyboarding and word processing II skills may have influence on Word processing IV effectiveness than those with credit pass in North-west zone, Nigeria.
2. Students with at least a credit pass in Keyboarding and word processing II may have influence on Word processing IV effectiveness than those with merit pass in North-west zone, Nigeria.
3. Students with at least a merit pass in Keyboarding and word processing II may have influence on Word processing IV effectiveness than those with ordinary pass in North-west zone, Nigeria.
4. Students with at least an ordinary pass in Keyboarding and word processing II may have influence on Word processing IV effectiveness than those without grade in North-west zone, Nigeria.
5. Students with grade in Keyboarding and word processing II may have influence on Word processing IV effectiveness than those without grade in north-west zone, Nigeria.
6. Students‘ gender in the three Colleges of Education may influence their performance in keyboarding, word processing II and word processing IV in North-west zone, Nigeria.
7. All other factors (such as teachers‘ methodology, availability of equipment) are assumed to have the same effects on students performance in word processing IV effectiveness.

 

        1.8       Delimitation of the study

This research was delimited to Federal College of Education, Zaria, Federal College of Education, Kano and Federal College of Education, Katsina. These institutions were chosen because they have Business Education Departments with secretarial option in the study area.

The study was delimited to NCE III Secretarial option students of Business Education Department for 2014/2015 academic session. This is because they took keyboarding, word processing II and word processing IV in NCE I, NCE II and NCE III respectively.

INFLUENCE OF KEYBOARDING AND WORD-PROCESSING-II ABILITIES ON BUSINESS EDUCATION PUPILS’ EFFECTIVENESS IN WORDPROCESSING-IV IN INSTITUTIONS OF EDUCATION IN NORTH-WEST ZONE, NIGERIA  

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