EFFECT OF REPOSITORY ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background To the study
The use of technology is changing the way things are done, including the work in tertiary institutions where the
teaching and learning process required a great deal of improvement. Knowing fully that Repository is an essential tool
for facilitating academic activities in tertiary institutions in Nigeria, for a number of years now, the managers of these
tertiary institutions of learning have invested heavily in establishing Repository services in their schools. The services
provided by Repository have had a major impact in the university context, in organisation and in teaching and
learning methods. The Repository has made computers across the globe interconnected.
According to Emeka and Nyeche (2016) the Repository today is a worldwide entity whose nature cannot be easily or
simply defined. To many, the Repository is a large academic resources data base linking together millions of smaller
users at numerous sites in various countries belonging to thousands of business, government, research, educational
and other organizations. To the Repository users, the Repository is a global community-one with a very active life. In
today world, the Repository plays a vital role in the teaching, research and learning process in academic institutions.
Thus, the advent of the Repository has heralded the emergence of a new form of knowledge production and
distribution – the soft form.
This new form of information resources have as their greatest advantage, a virtually unlimited wealth of information
resources which is widely readily available and accessible to hundreds of millions of people simultaneously in many
parts of the world (Kumar & Kaur 2006). In addition, Amaoge and Igwebuike (2016) believe that the Repository has
increasingly become an invariable asset in education in terms of learning, teaching and research. The use of
Repository in the tertiary institutions is an exciting prospect especially when the rugged terrain is the significant
impediment to obtain information for the vast majority of people.
Fasae and Aladeniyi (2012) pinpoint that for the developing countries like Nigeria to grow and attain its economic and
social status; such country must be fully ready in strengthening and empowering its academic institutions, both in
science and technological capacity. Hence, the students in their respective fields will need an array of reliable and
interactive means of accessing and retrieving information without wasting much time. Similarly, the use of this
Repository is greatly dependent on some associated factors such as purposes, students experience, locations,
Repository facilities and services available, among others on academic pursue of the students in their institutions.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria employ the Repository in educational matters such as writing papers,
searches for answers to questions and communicating with classmates on homework. However, time spent in
activities where “surfing the net” occurs could substitute away from time allocated to reading, studying and completing
homework. This may hurt academic performance in the short term. So, the study assessed the effectiveness of the
use of Repository services and its effects on students’ academic performances.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The main objective of this study is to find out the use of Repository and its effects on student’s performances.
Specifically, the aims of the study are to:
- Examine the effect of Repository use on the academic performance of the students.
- Investigate the problems that militate against the student’s access to the Repository.
iii. Investigate the frequency of Repository use among students. - 1.4 Research Questions
- The following research questions were formulated to guide this study:
i. What is the frequency of Repository use among the students?
ii. How useful is the Repository to students in their daily academic activities? - Which is the most used Repository service?
iv. Do the Repository services influence students’ academic performance?
What are the problems faced by students in using Repository services? - 1.5 Significance of the Study
- The study could be beneficial for students as well as for the institution. The
- valuable feedback gotten from
respondents should help students to realize the benefits of repository in their education. Institutes can invest more in
building repository to enhance the academic performance of their student and produce better results. Note that the
relevance of internet facilities is measured by how effective, sufficient and accessible it is to students and users. The
research will also provide in-depth insight into the various repository facilities and how students can be able to use them to improve academic performance. - 1.6 Scope/Limitation of the study
- The self-report criterion is a limitation. Future research should employ more objective measures of repository. This
study covers all regular undergraduate students in University of Abuja, Nigeria. These are 100 – 400 levels student
including 500 levels law. The study therefore excludes centre for distance learning and continuing education (CDL
and CE) students and sandwich students. Also, the study is not restricted to any gender. It includes both male and
female undergraduates at all level of study. - 1.7 Definition of Terms
- Repository: a place or container in which large quantities of something are stored
Performance: this relates to the results and appraisal gotten from studying samples.
Undergraduates: these are students in institutions of higher education.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT): refers to computer based tools used by people to work with
the information and communication processing needs of an organization, government agencies or individuals. It
covers both the software and hard ware devices that are used in the information processes.
University: refers to an educational institution designed for instruction, examination or both of students in many
branches of advanced learning, conferring degrees in various faculties, and often embodying colleges and similar institution.
EFFECT OF REPOSITORY ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS