Introduction
Information and communication technology (ICT) has become a key part of modern education practices. Both public and private universities across the world have embraced the ICTs and are keen to utilize the potential of this technology to improve both the quality and efficiency of education. Training higher education teachers is also another area explored by studies on the use of ICTs in universities to improve pedagogical competencies (Sua´rez-Rodrı´guez et al., 2018; Gellerstedt et al., 2018; Andanyi et al., 2020). Scholars have reached a consensus that ICT plays a critical role in modernizing pedagogy. Therefore, it can be argued that the rate of ICT adoption is dependent on how the individual institutions perceive the technologies.
Private and public universities are operated differently, which means that there are potential contrasts regarding how they adopt and implement ICT. Such is a comparison that has hardly been made in scholarly work, especially in the context of developing countries. In Nigeria, a few studies have explored factors affecting the adoption of e-learning in private universities. According to Eze et al. (2020), such factors as access to basic ICT infrastructure, including the internet, emails, and the necessary digital gadgets hinder the full implementation of ICT. Therefore, it is apparent that the subject is not fully explored and further research is needed.
Problem Statement
New technologies have emerged are revolutionizing all aspects of human life. Universities worldwide should be among the institutions leading technological innovation. The adoption of ICT in universities has been a broad subject often focusing on how the universities use, implement, and benefit from ICT. Comparisons between private and public institutions are scarce considering many scholars focus either on the public or the private. The question of whether there exist any differences regarding the adoption of ICT between two types of institutions has not been addressed, which leaves a huge research gap. Most importantly, those scholars exploring the developing countries have failed to address this question.
Significance of the Study
ICT in higher education is becoming a necessity, especially with the current Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to online learning, there are multiple other applications of new technologies in pedagogy. Therefore, it can be argued that the rate at which institutions adopt ICT determines the value they create for their learners. In developing countries, there are very few universities with the capability to fully implement ICT. Most public universities depend on funds from the government and, while the private institutions depend on their business models to raise capital, there exist significant differences in how each of them invests in critical infrastructure. Therefore, examining the question of how the two types of universities compare regarding the use of ICT should help determine the environmental factors and barriers. Lastly, the differences can be used by policymakers to develop the necessary legislation to aid the adoption of ICT in both private and public universities.
Objective of the Study
The primary objective of this research is to explore the use of ICT for teacher’s pedagogy in private and public universities. The research will establish the differences in the application of ICT, including the extent and areas of application. Additionally, the outcomes of the use of ICT will be examined and similarities and differences between private and public universities outlined. Most importantly, the research will highlight the environmental factors affecting the implementation and use of ICTs in both private and public universities.
Research Questions
- To what extent has the Nigerian private and public universities implemented ICT for teachers’ pedagogy?
- What are the similarities and differences in the use of ICT for teachers’ between private and public universities in Nigeria?
- What are the environmental factors affecting the use of ICT in teachers’ pedagogy in Nigerian private and public universities?
Literature Review
Previous Work
Several studies have been conducted exploring the use of ICT in Nigerian learning institutions. Many have focused on the usefulness of such technologies as wireless area networks (WLAN), personal computers, and electronic information resources (Hassan et al., 2016; Abosede, 2018; Ojeniyi & Adetimirin, 2016). Other such facilities as the internet and physical infrastructure, including printers and computer hardware, have also been the subject of some studies (Victor & Bolanle, 2017). A key observation across these studies is that universities in Nigeria have put considerable efforts in availing the necessary tools and infrastructure to enable both learners and educators to exploit new technologies.
The role of ICT in Nigerian universities has also been extensively studied. Research by Obielodan et al. (2020) explores the utilization of ICT in teacher’s pedagogy and concluded that technological tools have been made available for teaching. However, their focus is the general context of Nigerian schools without specifying either public or private universities. Teachers’ education and its use of ICT has been explored by Asubiojo and Ajayi (2017) who establish that ICT plays a critical role in teachers’ professional development. ICT has been seen to improve intellectual capacities and offer the teachers a value-oriented survival tool. According to (Lubis & Sarji, 2018), the use of ICT by lecturers improves the learning process quality, which serves as evidence that all efforts to integrate ICT in education should bear positive outcomes. Therefore, the usefulness of ICT is not questioned, which means that other factors are responsible for the delayed implementation of ICT in universities across the world.
E-learning is another concept that has been studied extensively in the Nigerian context. Many studies focus on how e-learning is implemented and used in universities across the country. Research by Nwagu (2020) explores the readiness of Nigerian universities to implement e-learning infrastructure and finds that the lecturers are ready and receptive to the ICT. A case of private universities has been presented by Nicholas-Omoregbe et al. (2017), who explores the factors affecting the adoption of ICTs in private universities. The study finds that availability of electricity, performance expectancy, and social influence play a vital role in the intention to adopt ICT in Nigerian private universities.
The previous studies explored above have either addressed universities or private universities, which leaves out the public institutions. Additionally, the generalization is hardly possible because private and public institutions face different sets of circumstances. Therefore, a comparison between the two types of organizations is lacking, which leaves a massive research gap. A few case studies have also been presented focusing n specific institutions. While a case study makes it possible for in-depth exploration of a phenomenon, it makes it hard to generalize across large populations.
Conceptual Model
The following conceptual model represents the main concepts and their relationships in this study. As expressed in the research objective, this study explores the use of ICT in teachers’ pedagogy and compares public and private universities. Therefore, the main concepts include the degree of implementation, the applications and uses, and the effects or role of ICT in improving pedagogical competencies. Additionally, factors affecting the intention to implement ICT are also considered in this research, which should allow for a comprehensive understanding of the research subject. Through a comparative process, these concepts are studied side by side as that apply for the public and private universities as illustrated by Table 1 below:
Table 1: Conceptual model.
Ethical Consideration
The researchers will use people as research respondents, which means that several ethical issues have to be considered. First, the research must make sure that all involvement in the study is voluntary and no individual is forced to participate. Second, privacy will need to be observed, which means that personal and sensitive data will not be solicited. The participants and their responses will be kept anonymous to further protect them. No harm should be done to the people engaged as research subjects, either mental, physical, or emotional. Lastly, the researcher must obtain informed consent from the persons before they can be engaged in the study.
Research Methods
This research will be a qualitative study seeking to explore how universities implement and use ICT for teachers’ pedagogy. As a qualitative study, qualitative and textual data will be obtained and analysed using the relevant methods. The research design is exploratory, which is often used to discover new and interesting phenomena (Reiter, 2017; Jebb et al., 2017). As explained in the problem statement, there lacks adequate scholarly work on the topic of ICT implementation and usage in the context of private and public universities in developing countries. A new phenomenon of the differences between the two types of institutions is explored.
The primary data will be collected using online surveys through open-ended questionnaires. The questions asked will be regarding how their institutions use and apply ICT in training, from which comparisons of the experiences between private and public universities will be made. Considering the current pandemic and the restrictions on social contacts and movements across the world, it will be difficult to use other tools for data collection. A sample of 100 respondents will be selected using a convenient sampling technique. A ratio of 1:1 between private and public universities is maintained. Additionally, the researcher will use five public and 5 private universities as the focus of the study. The content analysis method will be used alongside a comparative analysis as the data analysis methods.
Expected Outcome
The research aims to explore how public and private universities exploit ICT in teachers’ pedagogy. Therefore, the expected outcomes include the extent to which both private and public universities in Nigeria have deployed the ICT infrastructure. This includes the applications of ICT, software and tools, and the degree of integration into the daily teaching and learning practices. A comparison between public and private universities means that differences are explored and the potential environmental factors influencing the adoption of ICT in both types of institutions highlighted. Lastly, potential policy and practice recommendations for these organizations will be given regarding how ICT should be used to improve pedagogical competencies.
Conclusion
Technology in education is a critical research topic that seeks to explore how ICTs can help improve the quality of education. In Nigeria, several universities, both private and public, have made efforts to embrace and implement ICTs in learning and teaching practices. However, the fact that the implementation and use is not a hundred per cent implemented means there are several issues preventing institutions from achieving this objective. Additionally, the differences between private and public institutions regarding business and organizational models mean each could face different environmental constraints. Therefore, this study presents a perfect opportunity for the research to discover all the issues associated with the use of ICTs in public and private universities in Nigeria.
References
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