AVAILABILITY AND UTILIZATION OF WEB-BASED TOOLS FOR EFFECTIVE DELIVERY OF INSTRUCTION IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-SOUTH ZONE

Abstract

The study examined the extent of availability and utilization of web-based tools in Nigerian Universities. A descriptive cross section survey research design was used for the study. Nine research  questions  were  posed  and  six  hypotheses  formulated  to  guide  the  study.  The population of the study consists of 35,680 lecturers and students  in federal, state, and private universities  in the study area.  The sample  is 395  lecturers  and  students,  a proportionate stratified sampling technique was used to group the respondents into departments after which simple random sampling was used to draw the sample from the strata. The instruments for data  collection  were  a  checklist  and  questionnaires  which  were  validated  and  internal consistency  reliability coefficients  determined  using cronbach  alpha technique;  Data were analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 2.0. Percentage, mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while ANOVA was used to test the  hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. It was found that Web-based tools are more available  for effective  delivery of instruction  in State and Private  Universities  than Federal  Universities  in Nigerian;  resources  such  as internet  services,  web-based  learning software, personal laptops, scanners,  smart boards, on-line  library are  available  to a high extent. There was a significant difference  in the mean ratings of  lecturers and students in federal, state, and private universities on the extent of availability of resources that aid web- based tools for effective delivery of instruction. There is a high extent of utilization of web- based tools for effective delivery of instruction by lecturers and students in State and Private Universities   in   Nigerian.   Female   lecturers   utilize   web-based   tools   more   than   their counterparts in Nigerian Universities, both male and students utilize web-based tools to a less extent in content accessibility. Major implications of the findings are; there is a less extent in the use of web-based tools in e-assessment of students by lecturers in Nigerian Universities, that there is a less extent to which students utilize web-based tools in content accessibility. Based  on  these  findings  and  implications,  it  was  recommended  that  universities  should include web-based learning in their teaching programmes and source grants to promote the use of web instruction at all levels, all university lecturers must as a matter of compulsion be made to acquire  ICT skills,  Courses on application  of web-based  tools for teaching  and learning should be mounted in all faculties and departments to produce specialists that will man the units established for providing web-based support services in our universities.

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CHAPTER ONE

Background of the Study

INTRODUCTION

Education is the enabler of social and economic change. It is a continuous process of shaping and modifying behaviours of an individual for adequate adjustments in the society. According  to Akubue  and Okolo (2008),  education  is a process of  acculturation  through which the individual is helped to sustain the development of his potentialities, and maximum activation when necessary thereby achieving self-fulfilment. The importance of education is undeniable for every single person because it is a self-enlightening process, which provides us with knowledge about the world, paves the way for a good career, helps build character, lays  the  foundation  of  a  stronger  nation  and  crucial  to  the  overall  development  of  an individual  and  the  society  at  large  (Itedjere,  1997;  Whawo,  1997).  To  the  researcher, education  is an indispensable  part  of life personally and socially.  However,  the level of unequal standard and access to university education are still major problems that need to be solved. As a result of this, new strategies are being made to resolve the problem.

University education in Nigeria is faced by problems of access, population explosion and  other  problems  associated  with  the  learning  process.  According  to  Enaohwo  (2008) access to University education implies the right, opportunity and means of making education available within the reach of every citizen of a nation. Access to  education in its full and broad  sense  means  free  and  unlimited,  unhindered,  unfettered  opportunities  to  obtain knowledge,  skills,  and  abilities  available  at each  level of education  needed  to optimally participate and contribute to the development of the society (Okeke, 2008).

It has been observed  that most of the candidates who sat for the Unified  Tertiary

Matriculation Examinations  (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admission and  Matriculation

Board (JAMB) are usually not admitted by various universities because of carrying capacity (Edukugbo,  2012).  Edukugbo  further  maintained  that this  has  led  to denial  of  access  to university education and leaves the candidates  with no hope for the  future. According  to Edukugbo, in 2011/2012 academic session, a total of 1,493,604 candidates sat for the Unified Tertiary  Matriculation  Examinations   (UTME)  conducted   by  the  Joint  Admission  and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the results announced showed that 842,851 candidates scored above 180 indicating that less than 45 percent passed the examination. JAMB later fixed 180 marks as minimum for university students, yet most of them were not admitted by the various universities (Edukugbo, 2012).

As  at  2003  the  capacity  of  tertiary  institutions  across  the  country  is  only  about

500,000  (Afinsulu  & Scannews,  2013). This shows that there  is indeed  a need for  other alternatives to the conventional mode of education, that is, the teacher – student – chalkboard method  of  teaching.  Alternative  strategies  such  as  distance  learning,  blended  learning, electronic  learning,  web-based  learning,  will  help  in  solving  the  problems  of  access, population explosion, other problems such as; problem of students not being able to complete their  programs,  inadequate  learning,  route  learning,  problem  of  fund,  problem  of  not completing the curriculum within the time frame, problem of large class size which greatly affect learning outcome, time constrains for students who are working, and mostly distance that stands as barrier for some students. But, the availability of resources and its utilization by lecturers and students to enhance these alternative methods poses a problem. In the quest for abating this trend, the researcher intends to find out the extent of availability and utilization of web-based tools for effective delivery of instruction by lecturers and students in Nigerian universities  (NUs). In Nigeria, there are federal,  state, and private universities  which are being managed by the owners. Several factors help to establish who owns a university and what  rights  the  university  may,  or  may  not,  have.  It  is  commonly  agreed  that  to  own

something, is to have certain rights and duties over it. In essence, ownership is a bundle of rights and duties.

Federal universities  are universities  that are operated  and managed  by the  federal government,  and for each state  in the country there  is a federal university.  State owned universities are also called public or state government owned university. Every state also has a university which  is been funded  and managed  by the state  government.  While Private universities are  universities not operated by governments but by private individuals who fund and manage  the affairs of the university,  although  many of these universities  receive  tax

breaks, public student loans, and  grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. In Nigeria there are a number of private universities, one of which is  Igbinedion University, located in Okada, a town in Benin, Edo state. Hence, for the country to actualize its educational objectives of meeting the  educational needs of her citizens, then, other modes of teaching and learning must be imbibed. Web-based instruction is seen as a means of meeting the educational needs of every single individual if it’s being utilized by universities in the country.

Web-based instruction is a hypermedia-based instructional program which utilizes the attributes and resources of the World Wide Web to create a meaningful learning environment where learning is fostered and supported (Khan, 1997). It is delivered via the computer using the Internet, making it capable of instant updating, distribution, and sharing of information (Rosenberg, 2001). Activities like on-line forums, chats, mailing list, and web-quest are used to enhance teaching and learning on the web. The outcome may include effective interaction, feedback, knowledge and skills transfer to facilitate learning. Web-based instruction is one of the alternative  strategies  to  education  that  uses  web-based  tools for effective  delivery of learning. Web-based tools provide integrated environments of various technologies to support

diverse educators’ and learners’ needs via the Internet.  The goal of these tools is to enhance face-to-face instruction and to deliver distance-learning courses. Web-based tools allow one to carry out  task online that is, learning activities are done on a web browser and no separate download  or installation  of  other  software  is  required    (Kilby,  2008).  All  the  learning activities are accessible from anywhere where there is internet connection.

There are numerous web-based tools for educational purposes that can be effectively used to enhance  communication.  According  to Almpanis,  Miller, Ross,  Price,  and James (2011), these web-based tools include: – Content management system: this is used to create, edit, update content or document on a website; it helps to  manage  work flow on the web. Picture management:  this software makes it easy to  import pictures and manage them. In addition, it gives one the ability to edit the images of documents, and allows for backups of files  to  prevent  loss  of  original  pictures.  School  management  software  is  used  for  all administrative, management and learning activities; it is used to manage students, teachers, employees,  courses  and  all  the  systems  and  processes  related  to  running  an  institution efficiently.  Document  management:  it’s a computer  system or program used to track and store electronic documents. It also keeps track of the different versions modified by different users. Web conferencing: refers to a service that allows conferencing events to be shared with remote locations. This service is made possible by internet technologies; the service allows real-time multicast communications from one sender to many receivers. It offers data streams of   text-based   massages,   voice   and   video   chat   to   be   shared   simultaneously   across geographically  dispersed  locations.  Others  are  learning  management  system,  simulation, Google document, content management system, wikis, weblogs, and podcast. The tools can be  used  to  manage  student’s  records,  enhance  participation  and  assignments,  improve students’ writing and research skills,   motivate  students to learn, design websites, send e- mails, write collaborative documents with colleagues or students, demonstrate concepts in an

interesting way,  get other teachers’ opinions about teaching issues, help students  develop team work skills, and learn the use of internet responsibly. Therefore, the place of Web-based tools in the delivery of instruction as an alternative  to conventional  method  to education cannot be over-emphasised. As the number of participants in education continues to increase, so does the importance of providing effective instruction that focuses on the needs of learners increases.  Successful  web-based  learning  is  believed to  revolve  around  a learner-centred system  of  instruction  designed  to  meet   the  needs  of  individual  learners.  Web-based instruction  is  a  rapidly  growing  instructional  format  that  is  challenging  the  traditional learning model in higher education and many institutions of higher learning in other countries are running furiously to join in this trend (Gordon, He, and Abdous, 2009). For an effective web-based  instruction,  there  are software such as moodle,  blackboard,  among others that contains these web-based tools that can be used for academic purposes.

Moodle: This is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS), also known as learning and content management  system  (LCMS); an Open Source Course  Management System is a free delivery means for students to learn subject matter electronically. CMS is a complete programme for managing educational content electronically, and this happens to be the  engines  of  web-based  learning  that  provide  mechanisms  for  organising  academic curriculum,  delivering  various  modes  of  assessment  which  allows  for  communication between instructors and students (Dougiamas and Taylor, 2003). These programmes work on the internet or through educational institution’s local networks connected to computers, it lets teachers, trainers and administrators manage online learning and online training. The LCMS can be used to conduct courses online or to support face-to-face teaching and learning, it can also be  extended  with modules for assignments,  quizzes, grading, certification,  social and collaborative learning in an engaging manner. Moodle can be integrated with online content resource  repositories  for  managing  course  registration,  payment  and  enrolment,  course

schedules, allocation of training resources (Bauer and Kurtemeyer, 2005). This software  is free and can also be an essential tool for effective delivery of web-based learning experience and can also be used effectively in the conventional method of teaching and learning process such that, teachers and students can communicate through e-mails, submit  assignments, and news posting. Blackboard learn is of another importance in the utilization of web-based tools for effective delivery of instruction.

Blackboard:  This  is propriety of web-based  learning  management  system  (LMS), similar to moodle. It is designed to support fully online courses or provide a space for face- to-face course supplementation;  Blackboard  provides many types of  tools and features for enriching the learning experience,  allows instructors to put class materials on the internet, provides  a variety of tools  to  facilitate  teaching  and  learning using the web.   The basic components  used  in  a  Blackboard  Learn  course  include  a  syllabus,  Learning  Module, discussions, calendar, e-mail, announcements, grade book, exams, and assignments (Storey, Bavelas, Wang, and Phillips, 2009). The system consists of two parts – student and lecturer. To access the system, the user first registers either as a lecturer or a student, and also gets username  and  password  for  logging  into  the system.  To  access  the  main content  of the application,  the  system  performs  authentication  in  which  the  user  uses  his/her  personal username and  password  to log in, the administrator  of the system can also login into the system using his/her password for any update. The student can log on to the application after registering, to check for any assignment posted by the lecturer on each course registered for, does the assignment,  upload  database,  he/she  can also  log in again to check for  marked assignments  and  the  grades.  The lecturers  also  log in to  develop  content,  posts  his/  her assignment to the students, and later log on to assess students’ activities (Loch and Reushle,

2008). The lecturer’s ability to develop and deliver course content utilizing the various tools found in Blackboard is vital for effective delivery of web-based instruction.

Web-based  instruction can be achieved by utilizing any form of the available  web tools. Any institution that must engage in any of these new strategies to improve access to education must provide adequate resources in terms of setting up computer  laboratories in Information and Communication Technology centres (ICTC) and in each faculty;  develop a comprehensive  network design to cover academic and administrative units, student hostels and staff quarters with consideration for connectivity, train all staff of academic departments and programmes to possess the ability to use multimedia teaching workstations, equip lecture halls  for  multimedia  instruction,  develop  and  select  virtual  learning  software,  and  other software that can be useful for educational  purposes (Web-Based  Education Commission,

2005).

Utilization, for the purpose of this study is making effective use of available web tools or resources. The lecturer, as well as the student’s role is an important factor in the utilization of web-based tools for effective delivery of instruction, also, the lecturer and the student has to be competent in utilizing these available tools. According to Maor (2003) there are several facets of the role of the lecturer that can impact upon how web-based tools are developed and delivered. The lecturer will have to develop and deliver the course content depending upon the students’  pedagogical  needs which  should  include  the learning outcomes,  assignment requirements and relevant resources. Lecturers will have to check the online communication facilities for new postings and provide prompt and adequate replies to students’ questions to ensure effectiveness of the delivery. Also, how the lecturers perceive the importance of web- based  activities  will  influence  how web-based  tools are utilized  and integrated  into  their teaching practices (Gordon, et’al, 2009). Lecturers with a low perception of the importance of web-based  activities  may  not  fully consider  how  to  apply web-based  tools  strategies  to enhance  their  students’  learning.  Learning  strategies  can also  be developed  to  encourage students  to  utilize  online  communication  facilities  such  as conducting  discussions  about

specific topics and discussion based on issues relating to their assignments (Smith and Ragan,

2005; Bull, Kimball, and Stansberry, 1998). If the lecturers and students are able to  utilize these  web-based  tools,  effective  delivery  of  instruction  becomes  easier  for  them  which definitely will bring about learning outcome.   The lecturer must have the basic skills to be able to develop  an appropriate  content  that will meet the needs of  the students.  Content development is a core component of web-based instruction and in so doing; the lecturer will have in mind the pedagogical needs of the students.

In  using  pedagogical  approaches  for  web-based  learning,  according  to  Bruning, Schraw, Norby, and Ronning (2004)    the lecturer will have to consider the  ability of the learner in terms of;

Cognitive perspective which focuses on the cognitive processes involved in learning as well as how the brain works. Emotional perspective which focuses on the emotional aspects of learning, like motivation, engagement, fun. Behavioural perspective focuses on the skills and behavioural outcomes of the learning process. Role-playing and  application to the learning settings. Contextual perspective focuses on the environmental and social aspects which can stimulate learning. Interaction with other people, collaborative discovery and the importance of peer support as well as pressure.

When  all  these  attributes  are  put  in  place  it  becomes  easier,  more  interactive, interesting, and fun for both lecturers and students which will bring about effective utilization of web-based tools for effective delivery of instruction. Lecturers will also have to assess the ability of the learners to determine learning outcome, e-assessment by lecturers to assess the usability of student on web-tools is an essential  aspect of effective delivery of web-based instruction.

E-assessment  as it relates to education consists of all the procedures and  strategies that are used to obtain information about students’ learning. According to  Pachler, Mellar,

Daly, Mor, Wiliam, and Laurillard (2009) e-assessments methods emanate from the specific learning objectives of a subject; hence e-assessment  should be included in the planning of web-based instruction. E-assessments can be designed as an ongoing process (formative) or it can be  designed  to be used  at the  end  of a prescribed  period  of  learning  (summative). Different   e-assessment   strategies   such   as   e-testing,   e-examination   will   also   ensure accommodation  of  the  different  learning  styles  of  the  students.  Classroom  presentation naturally suits verbal or linguistic learners as it requires students to verbalise their knowledge but  visual  learners  are likely to  achieve  higher  in e-assessments  which include  pictures, videos, diagrams, maps because these  will help them figure out their responses. Lecturers have access to a range of digital tools with which to organise their feedback and assessment in order to make learning  more efficient, and to make room for formative,  normative,  or summative  e-assessment  processes.  In  addition,  the  lecturers  have  a  range  of  different technologies  that allow  students either together  or alone, to show their understanding  of knowledge, phenomena and ideas by presenting tasks in various ways using different digital tools.  Example of this is the possibility of making models, podcasts, videos and multimodal texts  into  which  sound,  image  and  video  can  be  integrated  for  a  collaborative  learning outcome.

E-assessment, can therefore, be used by lecturers to assess the cognitive and practical abilities of students. Cognitive abilities can be assessed using e-testing  software; practical abilities can also be assessed using e-portfolios or simulation software for them to have an effective delivery of instruction. The students should also have access to course content and not be restricted.

Web-based tools accessibility is another important factor in effective delivery of web- based instruction; this involves the ability of students to access course content developed on the web. First of all, both the learning content and the learning platform should be accessible

by students in order to effectively use these web-based tools. Web-based tools are often used with specific technology, or configuration, which can make them less available to people who have limited access capabilities or who are using non-standard computer equipment. As with most  types of web  applications,  student  should  be conversant  with  LCMS  environments which have become progressively more complex as instructors and students demand more features and more capability from their learning  environments (Kwan and Fong, 2005). In terms of the interface elements, such as logging in, logging out, navigating to courses and content, communicating with instructors and other students, the LCMS core environment has its fixed interface elements, instructors have the ability to add further navigation issues in the form of multi-layered content folders, hyperlinks, html content(hyper text makeup language). All of these can typically be mixed together in any number of ways to enhance learning, this also creates flexibility for instructors and course designers,  it can leave users of  assistive technologies  learning not just how to interact with the core LCMS features  but with the individual courses as built by the instructors (UNESCO Bangkok, 2006). For instance, the websites for the Blackboard and Moodle LCMS tools both address the issue of accessibility of students; the Moodle site offers authors a basic accessibility overview and some do’s and don’ts in terms of course design and content format, while Blackboard offers comprehensive instructions  to  students  in  terms  of  using  the  system  with  assistive  technologies.  The Blackboard website also address the accessibility from an instructors point of view, in terms of managing content which can include editing the names of items, deleting items or setting the sequence of items, and  then adding content into the modules such as images, videos, links, documents, html element and perhaps sub-folders, these are among the most common. In the  light  of the  above,  the  students’  use of web-based  tools for content  accessibility developed on the  web is important for effective delivery of web-based instruction (Porter,

2004). Another issue of research importance in the utilization of web-based tools is gender

influence. Many people behave differently and act differently to certain issues with respect to biological and psychological traits when it comes to web activities.

Gender  influence  is  an important  factor  in the  utilization  of web-based  tools  for effective delivery of instruction; gender is a characteristic  that distinguishes between male and female in the aspect of their behaviour, activities, and attitudes which must be considered in the investigation process of this work. Research has shown that  gender issues affect all aspects of the society as regarding their profession, competencies in higher institution and so on, which actually reflects biasness in their performance  level. Although most researchers have found male performing better than female especially on higher order knowledge, a few others saw female out-performing  the  male, while some others established  no significant difference  particularly during early  education (Adeleke,  2008). A review of some gender based studies that were carried out showed that there is a considerable inconsistency in the literature as to the nature, extent and sources of bias in the differential performances between male and female in web-based learning. Loyd and Gressand (1991) cited in Onuzulike (2011) also found out that females have lower grade scores on computer technology competencies than male. Onuzulike further stated that, gender has been identified as a critical factor that affects  lecturer’s  attitudes  towards the use of computer.  The study is therefore  posed  to investigate the influence of gender according to lecturers and students in the utilization of web-based   tools   in   course   content   development,   e-assessment,   and   course   content accessibility in Nigerian Universities (NUs) for effective delivery of instruction.

Statement of the Problem

In Nigeria, millions of students pass the university entrance qualifying exam  every year, but most of them never attend a university class. This is as a result of carrying capacity of the universities.  Also,  those  that  are already admitted  into  the system  are  faced  with

challenges. This is because the conventional mode of education is associated with a lot of problems such as; students not being able to complete their programs, problem of fund, not being  able  to  complete  the  curriculum,    large  class  size  which  greatly  affect  learning outcome, time constrains for students who are working, and distance from school. Therefore, alternative mode to education have emerged providing opportunities for student to practice and to analyze what have been learnt, offering better access to education, and relevant articles for teaching and learning which is web-based instruction.

Despite the obvious and enormous advantages that come with using web-based tools in teaching and learning, lecturers and students in Nigerian universities  have  been finding education  processes  and research difficult  because  of the traditional  educational  delivery system still in practice. This calls for urgent attention by the  government and the National University Commission (NUC) to ensure that web-based instructions are collaborated into the university  system  to  improve  access  to  education.  Also,  some  of  the  lecturers  in  the universities in Nigeria lack adequate knowledge and skills required for effective web-based instructional delivery. The problem therefore, is to determine the extent of availability and utilization of web-based tools for effective delivery of instruction in Nigerian universities.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of the study was to find out the extent of availability and utilization of web-based tools for effective delivery of instruction in Nigerian Universities.  Specifically, the study seeks to;

1.   Determine the available web-tools for effective delivery of instruction in  Nigerian universities.

2.   Determine the extent of availability of resources for the utilization of web-based tools in Federal, State, and Private universities in Nigeria.

3.   Determine the extent of utilization of available  web-based  tools in the delivery  of course content by lecturers in Nigerian universities.

4.   Determine lecturers’ use of web-based tools in e-assessment of students’ in Nigerian universities.

5.   Determine  the  influence  of  lecturers’  gender  on their  use  of web-based  tools  in content delivery in Nigerian universities.

6.   Determine the extent to which students utilize web-based tools for academic purposes in Nigerian universities.

7.   Determine the extent to which students utilize web-based tools in content accessibility

Nigerian universities.

8.   Determine  the influence  of gender on students’  use of web-based  tools in  content accessibility in Nigerian universities.

9.   Identify  factors  that  hinder  the  use  of  web-based  tools  for  effective  delivery  of instruction in Nigerian universities.

Significance of the Study

Generally,  the study was  significant  both in theoretical  and  practical  dimensions  to education.   Theoretically,   the  study  anchored   on  Activity-Based   Learning   Theory  by (Vygotsky,  1978). The theory aims to enrich students’  academic  experience  and learning outcomes by connecting theory with practice, and concepts  with methods, using data and insight they obtain through engagement with the larger world. This theory is an ideal theory for web-based instruction, where the learner is actively engaged in the learning process, and learning experiences are connected with other human beings (lecturers, peers).

Practically,     the     study     is     useful     to     lecturers,     students,     educational Administrators/instructional  designers, and the society at large. The lecturers will benefit by appreciating the importance of web-based  instruction and thereby be  motivated  to acquire training for better application and production of knowledge for  the real world. It will also facilitate teaching and learning, the findings also provide  the  lecturers with a feedback on assessment of the performance of students as a basis for improvement in their instructional practice in order to enhance performance of students. Also, lecturer – student contact can be maintained  and strengthened,  and this  will foster a better educational  experience  for the student. It will also decrease work  load for the lecturers as they can upload their lecture materials  and ask students to  access it themselves  even before the lecture time, this will enable them to accommodate more students.

The students  will  have more benefit  in access  to university  education  through  e- learning  programs,  students  will  also  gain  access  to  information  that  will  increase  their knowledge, inquiry and depth of investigation in course work as well as research works. They will also benefit accurate information, effective instructional delivery by lecturers which will enhance  their  academic  achievements  in their  studies.  Another  benefit  to  students  is the ability  to  do  interactive  teamwork  among  groups.   Students   have  the  opportunity  to correspond with others from different backgrounds and to hear from a variety of experts from around the world. Using high-tech solutions,  this process is easier and more enjoyable for learners. Students have access to experts and a tremendous volume of online databases; also, instead of searching for hours through card catalogs and library stacks, students can quickly utilize online search engines to find countless experts’ articles and research databases that aid in  their  coursework.  They  can  also  access  various  libraries  through  their  devices  from wherever they are. The student worker can also conveniently access his/her course material whenever they are free, and distance will not be a barrier for some other students that live

away  from  school  location.  The  study provides  the  student  researcher  with  a  workable literature for more areas of research not covered by the present study.

For educational administrators, the study will enable them to plan and integrate web- based  instruction  in  the  university  curriculum.  This  will  also  help  them  to  assess  the importance of web-based instructional-techniques  towards the performance of students, and also to assess the extent to which courses are effectively taught in Nigerian Universities and indeed, provide insight into the extent to which the objectives of teaching these courses in the universities are being realized. It is important, especially in instructional technology to create a bridge between the theoretical and the practical approach to create web-based instruction that will add value in terms of quality and effectiveness to teaching and learning. This will also enable Educational Administrators to rise to their responsibilities through supplying of resources in the universities.

Finally, the entire society will benefit an increased rate of literacy and opportunity for lifelong learning, communication and exchange which is essential to democratic living and the creation of a pool of globally competitive human resources, and also, it  shall improve access to university education for the youth to an extent.

Scope of the Study

The study is concerned with the extent of availability and utilization of web-based tools for effective delivery of instruction by lecturers and students. The study was carried out in Nigerian universities, specifically, universities in South-South geo-political Zone. The study focused on the availability of web-based tools, usability of web-based tools by lecturers in terms of course content delivery, e-assessment, and student’s accessibility of course content, gender as an independent variable, and also look at factors that hinder the use of web-based tools in the delivery of instruction.

Research Questions

The following research questions were posed to guide the study.

1.   What are the available web-tools for effective  delivery of instruction  in  Nigerian universities?

2.   To  what  extent  are resources  available  for  the  utilization  of web-based  tools  for effective delivery of instruction in Federal, State, and Private universities in Nigeria?

3.   To what extent do lecturers utilize available web-based tools in the delivery of course content by lecturers in Nigerian universities?

4.   To  what  extent  do  lecturers  use  web-based  tools  in  e-assessment  of  students  in

Nigerian universities?

5.   Do lecturers differ based on gender in their utilization of web-based tools for course content delivery in Nigerian universities?

6.   To what extent do students utilize web-based tools for academic purposes in Nigerian universities?

7.   To what extent do students utilize web-based tools in content accessibility Nigerian universities?

8.   What are the mean responses of male and female students on the use of web-based tools for content accessibility in Nigerian universities?

9.   What are the factors that hinder the use of web-based tools for effective delivery of instruction in Nigerian universities?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses will be tested at 0.05 level of significance:

HO1: There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of lecturers in Federal, State, and

Private universities for the availability of resources for the utilization of web-based tools.

HO2: There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of students in Federal, State, and

Private universities for the availability of resources for the utilization of web-based tools.

HO3:  There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of male and female lecturers in their utilization of web-based tools for course content delivery of web-based instruction.

HO4: There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of male and female lecturers in e- assessment of students in Nigerian universities.

HO5: There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of students in Federal, State, and

Private universities in the utilization of web-based tools for academic purposes.

HO6: There is no significant difference in the mean rating of male and female students  in their utilization of web-based tools in course content accessibility on the web.

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