ASSESSMENT OF ICT LITERACY NEEDS AND COMPETENCY LEVEL OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS IN UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS

Abstract

The National Policy on Education (FRN, 2014) has emphasized the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for effective teaching and learning in schools. ICT which are technological tools and resources are employed to communicate, create, disseminate and manage information and also aid communication processes in the classroom. Therefore, in preparing teachers, there is the need for a certain level of literacy and competency in the use of ICT facilities for teaching and learning, which calls for this study on ICT literacy needs and competency level of pre-service teachers. The study is a descriptive study using the cross-sectional survey method. The study sample was drawn from pre-service teachers of faculty of education, university of Lagos. A total of 375 respondents were randomly selected for the study from a total of 1150 students in 300L who had successfully taken a prerequisite course which is ICT related. Two research questions were raised and answered. Mean was used to answer the research questions one to two. The study concluded that Pre-service teachers are literate and competent in the use of ICT tools to to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information needed in their field of study. More so, Pre-service teachers in University of Lagos have the ability of basic computer operations to startup/boot a computer and ability of making use of the internet to search for relevant information. The study recommends that school authorities should lay more emphases on the use of learning platform supports to learning in higher institutions which will also assist the pre-service teachers to be relevant in their chosen profession. Lecturers should also blend the use of ICT along with their methodology of teaching.