Abstract:

The study examined academic staff and students’ use of internet facilities in public colleges of education in southwest Nigeria. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 192 academic staff and 384 students from 9 (4 federal and 5 state) colleges of education in southwest Nigeria. Two self-structured questionnaires were used to collect data from the respondents. One questionnaire was designed for lecturers while the second one was designed to elicit responses from the students. The data collected were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages while t-test statistic was used to test the stated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. A correlation co-efficient of 0.84, showing that the instrument was reliable and suitable for the study. The results of the study showed a statistically significant difference between academic staff and students’ use of internet facilities in colleges of education in southwest Nigeria. It also showed that male lecturers are more frequent online than their female counterparts; male students also make use of internet facilities more than female students. Based on the findings, it was recommended that internet facilities should be available, accessible and affordable for students and staff of colleges of education and other tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Government should improve power supply in the country while school authorities and internet service providers should improve internet access speed and interconnectivity.

Keywords:

Academic staff, students, information and communication technology, internet, internet services, college of education.