ABSTRACT

This study is carried out to investigate the effect of internet use on performance of academic staff of Babcock University and Obafemi Awolowo University. The objectives of the study are to determine the role of internet in promoting teaching in learning environment, to investigate the frequency of faculty in the utilization of ICT in carrying out research, to identify the factors that impede the usage of internet on performance of academic staff of both universities, to access the role of university administration in promoting ICT in universities. Lastly, to compare internet usage by academics of Babcock University and Obafemi Awolowo University.

Descriptive statistics were employed for the study with the use of both qualitative and quantitative data. The study covers the period of 2008 and 2015. The sample size was 349 and the instruments for collecting data were structured questionnaire, structured interview and review of existing literatures. Stratified sampling technique was used to divide the population into sub-groups while the respondents were selected in proportion of Graduate Assistant, Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer II, Lecturer I, Senior Lecturer, Reader, and Professor. 10 respondents were interviewed. Pearson product moment of correlation was used to test the hypothesis.

The findings revealed that internet eases download of related information for teaching and learning, it also help in accessing data bases that are not found in the library, it eases sending and receiving of mails and also eases exchange of study materials between researchers. It was also revealed that majority of the academics make use of internet daily. Internet is mainly used for academic purposes. The study also shows that university administration organizes free training for academics; there is provision of internet access point in offices. Academics encountered problems such as power outage, slow access speed, overload of information while using the internet. Academics in Babcock University make use of internet more than their counterpart in Obafemi Awolowo University.  Hypothesis tested showed that there is a positive relationship between internet use and academic performance (r = .812, p< 0.05).

The study concluded that internet use is very important for the academics due to the benefits derived from it. The study recommends that facilities such as generating set and solar system should be acquired and put in place to ensure smooth using of the internet by the academics. Constant maintenance of the equipment, both internet and electricity supply should be put in place in order to serve it purposes. University administration should release funds from time to time in order to maintain the equipment properly. The university administration should organize regular workshop/ seminar on internet use and the lecturers encourage to attend in order to update their knowledge on the use of internet facilities for their academic responsibilities.

Keywords: Internet use, Academic performance, Academic staff, Information and   

                    Communication Technology, Internet facilities.

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