Information and Communication Technology Integration in Teacher Education Programmes: Assessment of Science Education Lecturer’s Competencies in Rivers State, Nigeria

The relevance of information and communication technology in developing nations of the world like Nigeria cannot be undermined, considering the indispensable role it plays in nations’ development and provision of basic facilities for improvement in standards of living of citizens. In this context, science education lecturers need to be fully equipped with basic skills in information and communication technology. This study therefore, is an attempt to assess Science Education Lecturers’ competency in information and communication technology in Rivers State. Descriptive survey design was adopted and the sample comprised 85 Science Education Lecturers in Rivers State Tertiary Institutions. The instrument was Competency in Information and Communication Technology Questionnaire validated by two Science Education Lecturers. The instruments’ reliability coefficient of 0.76 was determined by test-retest method using Pearson Product Moment Correlation formula. Mean and standard deviation were used for answering research questions while hypotheses were tested using t-test at .05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed low level of competency of science education lecturers in information and communication technology with regards to use of presentation tools to support on-line instructions, test, assignments, e-mail, face book, internet and cybercafé, analysis of a course work, results computation, course evaluation, word processor for personal and instructional purpose, spreadsheet for personal and instructional purpose, collection and storage of data and decision making. There was no significant difference in male and female lecturers’ level of competency in information and communication technology as well as university and college of education science education lecturers in Rivers State. It was recommended among others that Government should ensure adequate training of science education lectures on the use of information and communication technology facilities and also assist them acquire laptops and software packages.

COMPUTER TEACHERS� AWARENESS OF VIRTUAL REALITY FOR INSTRUCTIONAL PURPOSE IN KWARA STATE

Virtual reality is an emerging technology designed to provide interaction between a user and artificially generated environments. However, most teachers in Nigeria are not aware of how virtual reality can be widely used for educational purposes. The study investigated (i) awareness of teachers towards the use of virtual reality for instructional purpose and influence of gender and experience on teachers� awareness of virtual reality for instructional purpose. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. 360 computer teachers were sampled from secondary schools across Kwara State with the use of researchs-developed questionnaire. The findings established that Virtual Bicycle and 3D Map world are the virtual reality facilities which most respondents are of aware for instructional purpose; and there was no significant difference between teachers� awareness of VR for instructional purpose based on gender and experience. It was thus recommended that seminars and training could also be organised for teachers on how to use VR to facilitate their teaching in and outside the classroom environment.Keywords: awareness; computer teachers; virtual reality; gender; experience; instructional purposes.

KEARIFAN LOKAL ARSITEKTURE RUMAH ADAT OSING DALAM PEMBELAJARAN IPS

This study described the local wisdom of Osing community as reflected on the architecture of traditional houses that could be used as instructional resources for social studies. The approach in this research was qualitative. Data were collected through observation and literature studies of books, journals, papers, written texts, and others related to the local wisdom and social studies education. This study shows that the architecture of the Osing traditional house has specific values that can be used for instructional purpose of social studies education. Students could visit Kemiren village and learn directly from the architerture of the traditional house and other artifacts in the village.

MANAJEMEN PENGEMBANGAN PENDIDIKAN DI SEKOLAH

Sustainable improvement should be the principle in management, including in the world of education. Within school organizations and other institutions there are two different elements which need to be managed. The first are personnel in the structure of school (structural) and teacher (functional), while the second is facilities and infrastructure in the form of software such as curriculum documents and so on or hardware such as rooms and all of their contents. All needs to be managed properly to achieve the purposes, either institutional purpose or instructional purpose. In carrying out development management, headmaster at school level and teachers at classroom level must go through three stages. They are careful planning, system organizing, and program implementation.

Protocol for the design of quality bilingual education materials

The objective of this study was to bring bilingual materials design into a research-oriented framework by using an innovative materials design protocol, to make claims about the effectiveness of the protocol itself as well as the quality of the materials based on the evidence collected after the study. This pilot study with a group of lower-secondary bilingual content teachers was conducted in Poland. The findings of our study showed the adequacy of the use of the materials design protocol. However, the prepared lesson materials seem to serve an informative and instructional purpose rather than experiential and exploratory, which would be more desired in the context of independent learning and bilingual education, hence, the need for the adaptation of the protocol with a greater focus on differentiation in bilingual education.

Student Interpretations of Teacher Verbal Praise in Selected Seventh- and Eighth-Grade Choral Classes

This study was an investigation of the effect that familiarity with a teacher and rehearsal context might have on seventh- and eighth-grade choral students' interpretations of teacher verbal praise. Teachers (N = 4) labeled randomly selected videotaped examples of their praise according to the purpose it was intended to serve. Students (N = 80) viewed 16 brief (30-second) examples of the praise and labeled it as deserved (directed at the performance) or one of three instructional uses (i.e., to encourage, to gain student cooperation, or to send a message to other members of the class). Results showed students across choirs could separate deserved from instructional praise, but in 9 examples, familiarity with a context made a significant difference in labeling praise as deserved and in detecting a specific instructional purpose. Results suggest the importance of further investigations that determine how teachers intend praise to function and how their students interpret its use.