Opportunities and threats of ICT to Nigerian education

                      OPPORTUNITIES OF ICT IN EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND PLANNING

• ·         ICT provides students with higher chances of securing jobs in the labour market: students who graduate with ICT skills, have a great chance of securing jobs in the labour market, because most organizational activities are computerised,  the operators have to possess basic knowledge to run such systems effectively. 

•     ICT encourages active cooperation of school and businesses, public and private sectors, as well as the local community and government bodies, in computerization.

• ·         Digitization and the still increasing penetration of ICT into all areas of professional and private life will be even more all-embracing in moulding the information society in the future.

• ·         Courses integrated with ICT could either replace or be combined with traditional teaching methods, this would go a long way in boosting the effectiveness and efficiency of the teaching and learning process.

• ·         ICT provides students with new methods of doing things and this enables them to adapt easily to new patterns in the future e.g. doing personal research for an assignment or group work.

• ·         Students have a chance to present their work in a way that suits them.

• ·         Dynamism in the ICT base technologies will drive innovation processes and have a serious impact on all key industries in the Nigerian economy, i.e. innovative ICT students would have greater chances for economic development in Nigeria.

THREATS TO ICT IN EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND PLANNING

• ·         The cost of procuring, maintaining /servicing and sustaining computers and its other accessories are quite high and sometimes dissuade people from using ICT.

• ·         Computers to a certain extent, pose dangers to the eyes, the back and others, so it endangers a person’s health.

• ·         Some cultures believe that ICT in one way or the other, corrupt or influence their folks, so they discourage it.

• ·         The poor power supply is also a great threat to ICT in admin and planning because without power, ICT gadgets cannot even work.

• ·         Teachers may fear being rendered irrelevant by the introduction of computers in his/her class. The ‘feel’ that the teacher still remains an authority and a ‘know it all’ in class is something that most teachers cherish, and anything that makes them otherwise is deemed an enemy of the classroom.

• ·         There is still a strong perception especially by the older generation that computers require highly skilled personnel to operate them, while this may not be the case, some school administrators also fear that their students will be exposed to adult sites and other undesired sites, through the use of the internet. Some also fear the infection of viruses to their computers leading to data loss, while this may be true to some extent, proper education on the safe use of computers and help alleviate some of these fears.

        REFERENCES

Moran, C.R., 1998. Strategic information technology planning in higher education: A new roadmap to the 21st century academy. 1 edn. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company, Inc.

Westrup, C., 2002. What's in information technology? Issues in deploying IS in organisations and developing countries. In: C. Avgerou and G. Walsham, eds, Information technology in context: Studies from the perspective of developing countries. 1 edn. Burlington, USA: Ashgate publishing company, pp. 96-110.

2523 Questions & Answers on information and communication technology by Dr. Joseph Gusen.

SWOT Analysis on the Use of ICT by Mijo Mirković School of Economics, Trade and Administration.

Thijs, A., et al. Learning Through the Web. http://www.decidenet.nl/Publications/Web_Based_Learning.pdf. Accessed 21 May 2002. New link -http://www.decidenet.nl/apps/documenten/download/almekinders1.pdf

12 Challenges Facing Computer Education by ictworks.com.