Ict and Academic Staff Performance in Universities

THE ROLE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) IN ENHANCING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO USMANU DANFODIYO UNIVERSITY, SOKOTO
BY

IBRAHIM AMINU, MBA
TRAINING, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT UNIT
USMANU DANFODIYO UNIVERSITY NETWORK (UDUNet)
SOKOTO

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the role of ICT in motivating academic performance with special reference to the academic staff of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. A cross-section survey design was adopted in the study to enable the identification of some relevant variables and establish their relationships so as to provide answers to the research questions formulated in section one. Both primary and secondary sources of data collection were used in the research. Among others, the following findings were deduced from the data presented and analyzed in the paper: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has contributed immensely to the performance of academic staff in UDUS; rapid technological development has made a significant impact in the use of ICT facilities in teaching, learning and research; and the development of ICT has brought a lot of innovations in the delivery and access to knowledge. Among others, the following recommendations were proffered: there should be adequate capacity building training for staff on the need to make the best use of ICT in order to justify the huge investment made by the university; there should be constant campus-wide awareness training in the use of cutting-edge ICT facilities; and access to internet facilities should be commercialized but subsidized for staff and students.

1. INTRODUCTION

Information has always played a very important role in human life. However, in the mid 20th century, its role had increased immeasurably as a result of social progress and vigorous developments in science and technology. In addition, according to Trostnikov (1970), rapid expansion of a mass of diversified information is occurring, which has

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