CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT has become an integral part of man’s culture in recent years. In particular, students in tertiary institutions have adopted ICT for information access and exchange. There is no doubt that ICT impact on students’ academic performance. The application of Information and Communications Technology (ICTs) in education has revolutionized teaching and learning. Students with diverse learning styles are able to maximize their learning potential when instructors use Information and Communications Technologies to support their teachings. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) which include radio and television, as well as latest digital technologies such as computers and the internet have been as potentially powerful enabling tools for educational change and reform. When used appropriately, different ICTs are said to help expand access to education strengthen the relevance of education to the increasingly digital workplace, and raise educational quality by, among others, helping make teaching and learning into an engaging, active process connected to real life. It enables the learners to be more independent, reflective and self-regulated in their learning process. In addition, ICT makes it possible to deliver virtual instruction to students outside the classroom. Stephen, Thomas and Cook (2002), stated that using technology teaching strategies are often based on cognitive view of teaching and learning. Teachers here are viewed as facilitators and collaborators with students as they learn, rather than as experts imparting knowledge. There also tend to be strong emphasis on the use of problem-solving and research skills as students take more active role in defining and developing their ideas. However, areas teachers can use ICTs in teaching economics are broad, as with most developments in technology, new tools and techniques are developed every day. Even though such teaching strategies are very expensive to come by, they are exciting. Examples of such facilities are the use of multimedia, C.D Rom, web-based instructions (WBI), the intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), Virtual reality (VR), Audio visual aid, computer-assisted instruction and a host of other recent development network (Stephen, McPake and Plowman, 2010).
The impact of ICTs on studying economics is in relation to use of digital media, primarily computers and internet to facilitate teaching and learning. ICTs are the technologies used in conveying, manipulation and storage of data by electronic means. They provide powerful tools that help in transforming the present isolated teacher-centered and txt-bound classrooms into rich-student-focused, interactive knowledge environments. To meet these challenges, learning institutions must embrace the new technologies and appropriate ICT tools for studying economics. The direct link between ICT use and students’ academic performances has been the focus of extensive literature during the last two decades. Some of them help students with their learning by improving the communication between them and the instructors (Valasidou and Bousiou, 2005). Leuven, e.; Lindahl, m.; Osterbeek, h.; Webbink, d. (2004), stated that there is no evidence for a relationship between increased educational use of ICT and students’ performance. In fact, they find a consistently negative and marginally significant relationship between ICT use and some student achievement measures. In support of these, some students use ICT to occupy their leisure time and have less time to study. Online gaming and increased communication channels do not necessarily mean increased achievement. On the other hand, Abdulla, Al-Hawaj and Twizell (2008) stated that ICT has the potential to transform the nature of education, where and how learning takes place and the roles of students and teachers in the learning process.