ICT Adoption And Impacts On The Performance Of University Students (Research Proposal Sample)

A Research Proposal: ICT Adoption And Impacts On The Performance Of University Students.
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Institution of Affiliation
Executive summary
This study aims at investigating the adoption of ICT in Universities and the impact it has on the university students’ academic performance. The study employs a questionnaire-based survey, interview and secondary sources as the main instruments of data collection. The researcher aims at collecting information regarding the acceptance of ICT adoption and the extent to which universities are willing to go to embrace technology. In addition, the research will collect data regarding the performance of the university students as a result of the adoption of ICT in their respective institutions. The research will use both qualitative and quantitative data to make the findings.
The findings of this research will add knowledge on the process of ICT adoption in Universities why and how universities’ management, government and other relevant stakeholders are embracing ICT adoption. The research will also shed light on the relationship between the use of ICT and education output. Further, the research will show how the adoption of ICT impacts on education performance with a specific focus on university students’ performance. The results of this study will be essential to government agents that deals with education, university management and other parties involved in making policies for higher education. The research will also inform the decision making of students wishing to enroll for a course on whether to consider the level of ICT application in the institutions. Lastly, the research will also act as a jump start for other researchers who may want to conduct further research for this topic in future.
Table of ContentsCHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc435997779 \h 41.2 Research objectives51.3 Research Hypothesis61.4 Significance of the Study6CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW7CHAPTER THREE:METHODOLOGY113.1 Research Design113.2 Sampling113.3 Data Collection123.4 Data Analysis13Ethical Considerations15Conclusion15 Appendix I Time Scale.…………………………………………………………………….....16 Appendix II Budget……………………………………………………………………………17Reference List18
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become an important source of innovation and improvement of efficiency for many sectors globally. In the education sector, the application of ICT has become a critical part of the learning process for university students in the classroom setting and outside the class. The government and other stakeholders in the education sector like the university management and researchers have been investing millions of dollars to adopt ICT in the education system in the last two decades (Lawrence, 2015). Most Universities that have adopted ICT have recorded immense advancement in the application of ICT in improving learning methods, teaching, research and development. It is however not clear how ICT application impacts on the performance and achievement of students.
Numerous researchers have been undertaken to investigate the relationship between ICT and student performance, although these studies have not been able to establish precisely the impacts of ICT on the performance of the student. These researchers have faced two core challenges. First being the fact that it is difficult to determine the performance of students. The common approach used by many researchers considers the curriculum and the achievement in terms of grade achieved (Fu, 2013). Ali., et al (2016) and Rose., et al (2015) have criticized the findings of such studies blaming them of being too narrow. An alternative approach that considers the influence of ICT on students’ attitude, competency and skills in addition of curriculum is preferred. This approach has been campaigned for as an extensive approach that would yield more accurate results compared to the narrow approach. The extensive approach demands more comprehensive and complex strategy to focus and observe the labor market.
The second challenge is the fact that technology changes are rampant where it is difficult to treat their effects differently from their environment. This aspect therefore makes such research attract high contention on the ground that such rapid changes in technology renders used parameters ineffective therefore no conclusive finding can be made from such studies (Fu, 2013). Further, many studies conducted on this subject are based on scientific studies of comparison that are ersatz. These studies establish that adoption of technology in institutions of learning, improve the respective institutions. Additionally, most of the studies have focused on the cognitive results, although recent studies have focused on the effective results and their attitude for ICT development
As such, there is a need to conduct a research that will investigate the adoption of ICT in the university education programs and the impacts it have on the performance of the students. The proposed research will carefully evaluate how and the extent to which universities have adopted the use of ICT as well as how adoption of ICT have consequently impacted on the performance of the students. The proposed research will identify key factors that contribute to performance of university students and how these factors are influenced by information communication technology.
1.2 Research objectives
To investigate the ways in which universities have adopted ICT in their administration, curriculum and teaching functions;
To evaluate the extent to which the universities have adopted ICT;
To determine the relationship between ICT adoption and the performance of the university students;
To find out the impacts of ICT adoption in universities on the university students’ performance.
1.3 Research Hypothesis
H1: The adoption of ICT in the universities has positive impacts in the performance of university students.
H0: There is no direct relationship between ICT adoption in universities and performance of students.
1.4 Significance of the study
The findings of this research will add knowledge on the process of ICT adoption in Universities why and how universities’ management, government and other relevant stakeholders are embracing ICT adoption. The research will also shed light on the relationship between the use of ICT and education output. Further, the research will show how the adoption of ICT impacts on education performance with a specific focus on university students’ performance. The results of this study will be essential to government agents that deals with education, university management and other parties involved in making policies for higher education. The research will also inform the decision making of students wishing to enroll for a course on whether to consider the level of ICT application in the institutions. Lastly, the research will also act as a jump start for other researchers who may want to conduct further research for this topic in future.
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
This section gives a recap of the findings made earlier regarding the adoption of ICT in university education and its impacts therefore to the performance of university students. There are various studies conducted to investigate the relationship between the ICT and quality of education. The studies have focused on how ICT influence factors that ultimately influences the performance of the students. However, only a few studies that evaluate the impact of ICT adoption on the performance of university education exist. Further, the existing literature gives mixed findings of the ICT impacts’ on the university students’ performance.
Ellis & Loveless (2013) study indicate that higher educations pedagogic cannot be isolated from academic achievement and equally from the teaching process and innovation. The study affirms that the potential role of information and Communication Technology in higher education cannot be overlooked. Chan Bernal, & Camacho (2013) study made a similar observation that indicated the critical function of ICT in democratizing university education and meeting new and dynamic demands of graduate students.
In a similar study, Sari & Mahmutoglu (2013) found that the change in teaching methodology for university required a paradigm that would adopt student-centered approaches. The methodologies should aim at making the student an active element in the learning process rather than passive through an adequate and effective guidance from the tutorial team. Iniesta-Bonillo., et al (2013) research found that the use of information and communication technology is significant in placing the student in an active position and in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of tutorial support.
As a result all the relevant parties involved in higher education have put tremendous efforts to ensure adoption of ICT in their university education systems. According to a report published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) institute of statistics (2013) g...