Perceived Impacts of Educational Technologies on Learning among Students in Selected Schools of Nursing in Ogun State

Abstract

The rapid evolution of web-based information platforms and social media in particular, has made the internet the primary source of information for many health professional students. When thinking of how technology has changed nursing education, high-fidelity simulation and computerized testing are the two areas which immediately come to mind, though the technological revolution is actually much more comprehensive, with students (and instructors) using laptops, smart phones, and tablets in class to instantly access great stores of information on the internet. The study was designed to assess the perceived impacts of educational technologies for teaching and learning among students in selected schools of nursing in Ogun State. A quantitative descriptive research design was used to obtain information on the assessment of effects of educational technologies for teaching and learning in selected Schools of Nursing in Ogun State. A total of 198 students were used in the study; a simple random technique was used to select participants. A well-constructed questionnaire was used, data was collected and analysis was presented in tables and percentages. Results obtained from the study revealed that 80.3% agreed that technology in teaching breaks monotony/boredom and almost all respondents (94.9%) agreed that technology makes lessons interesting to comprehend. Also, 96.5% had previously heard about ICT and 58.1% agreed to have used it in their school. The study further revealed that 75% of the students believed there are only 25% availability of technological tools in the school for teaching and learning while 75% agreed that technological tools are not sufficiently available. Majority of the students also agreed that poor attitudes of both students and tutors toward ICT hinder its usage. Other barriers include lack of ICT infrastructures, lack of technical support, inadequate knowledge and poor accessibility to the internet which explains that there was no significant increase in the relationship for students' perception of ICT compared to availability of technological tools for learning and teaching in the schools. The p-value of 0.68 shows that there was a significant relationship between students’ perception of ICT and availability of technological tools for learning and teaching in the school. Thus, the study recommends provision of required ICT tools and training of nurse educators to facilitate ICT utilization in nursing education.