Influence Of Virtual Learning On Academic Performance Of Students Among Public Secondary School
(Case Study Of Public Secondary School In Iwo Local Government Area Of Osun State)
The influence of virtual learning on the academic performance of students in public secondary schools is a subject of increasing significance in contemporary education. Virtual learning, facilitated by digital platforms and online resources, has revolutionized traditional educational paradigms, offering diverse modes of instruction and interactive tools. The integration of virtual learning into the educational framework has demonstrated a substantial impact on student engagement, comprehension, and retention of academic material. Through personalized learning experiences and interactive multimedia content, virtual learning cultivates active participation and fosters critical thinking skills among students. Moreover, the accessibility of virtual learning transcends geographical barriers, enabling students to access educational resources remotely, thereby promoting inclusivity and flexibility in learning. However, challenges such as the digital divide and the need for effective teacher training in virtual pedagogy underscore the complexity of integrating virtual learning into public secondary school curricula. Nonetheless, the potential of virtual learning to enhance academic performance by catering to diverse learning styles and fostering independent learning habits underscores its pivotal role in shaping the educational landscape of the future.
The study investigated the correlation between virtual learning and secondary school students’ academic achievement. It is a descriptive survey of expo-facto type. A total of 100 public secondary school students were randomly selected from 5 randomly selected public secondary schools in Iwo local government area of Osun state. Virtual learning questionnaire was used to collect data while the students’ scores in English and Mathematics were used to measure academic achievement. Data were analyzed with Pearson product-moment statistics at 0.05 level of significance. Three hypotheses were raised and tested. The result of the analysis indicated a positive relationship between virtual learning and academic achievement of secondary school students (junior, senior). Based on these findings, recommendations were made that all stakeholders in academics (parents, teachers, and school administrators) should encourage and support students to acquire computer training for virtual learning knowledge to enhance the academic achievement of public secondary school students.
COVER PAGE
TITLE PAGE
APPROVAL PAGE
DEDICATION
ACKNOWELDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 CONCEPTUAL REVIEW OF THE STUDY
2.2 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
2.3 CONCEPT OF VIRTUAL LEARNING
2.4 VIRTUAL LEARNING – EDUCATIONAL THEORIES
2.5 A BRIEF HISTORY OF VIRTUAL LEARNING
2.6 TYPES OF VIRTUAL LEARNING
2.7 CONVENTIONAL MODE OF TEACHING SUPPORTED WITH COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTIONS
2.8 VIRTUAL LEARNING AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
2.9 PREDICTORS OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
2.10 APPRAISAL OF THE REVIEWED OF RELATED LITERATURE
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN
3.2 POPULATION, SAMPLE AND SAMPLING PROCEDURE
3.3 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
3.4 VALIDATION OF THE INSTRUMENT
3.5 RELIABILITY OF THE INSTRUMENT
3.6 PROCEDURE FOR DATA COLLECTION
3.7 PROCEDURE FOR DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 CONCLUSION
5.2 RECOMMENDATION
REFERENCES
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The influence of virtual learning is increasingly dominating the current educational system as the impact of technology continuously dominates our day to day activities worldwide (Bass 2006). Especially governments of developing countries like Nigeria are convinced that their journey towards educational development is mainly dependent on technological support (MoE, 2005; Serbessa, 2006). For this, science and technology education is the primary target in which case tertiary education will come to the front. Virtual learning which is often regarded as the fundamental tool for education is then the basic primary element which needs a very serious support during the teaching-learning process in Nigerian tertiary institutions. This shows that the chain of interdependent relationships between development, technology, education and tertiary institutions in bringing the issue of the conceptual change in teaching and learning methodologies in other to improve students’ academic performances and achievement. This interdependent chain is cyclic such that education supports the growth of technology, while in return, technological facilities support educational system and by extension students academic performances. Virtual learning is simply regarded as the use of Information and Communication Technology e.g. Internet, Computer, Mobile phone, Learning Management System (LMS), Televisions, Radios and others to enhance teaching and learning activities. Virtual learning is a unifying term used to describe the fields of online learning, web-based training and technology delivered instructions (Oye , Salleh, & Iahad, 2010). E-learning approach has become an increasingly popular learning approach in higher educational institutions due to vast growth of internet technology. Nowadays virtual learning has a competitive advantage and many tertiary institutions have implemented it and this has impacts on students’ academic performance or GPA. However, still there are other tertiary institutions and academic institutions that use very low interactive virtual learning which is not enough to contribute to the performance of the students. In contrary to that, other higher educational institutions use highly interactive virtual learning which directly improves students’ academic performance in general (Rodgers, 2008). Today technology is a tool used to remove geographical barriers and facilitates everybody to learn anytime and anywhere without the presence of the lecturer. The main purpose of virtual Learning is to increase accessibility of education and reducing costs and time as well as improving students’ academic performance. This approach of learning facilitates different students at different continents to attend the same classes almost at the same time. Nowadays, technology is becoming the medium for teaching and learning without being at tertiary institution campuses. This technology enabled instructional method is aimed to improve quality of education and student academic performance. It has been found that students in higher educational institutions that engaged in virtual Learning, generally performed better than those in face-to-face courses. (Holley, 2002) found that students who participate in online/ virtual Learning achieve better grades than students who studied using traditional approach. As result of this finding virtual learning is growing very fast and become popular and that is why many higher educational institutions are adopting to virtual learning system. Virtual Learning is widely used in many universities in the world today. In some schools, their virtual learning does not add any value to the teaching and learning activities of the school and perhaps they do not investigate the influence of virtual learning on student academic performance among Nigerian students.
1.2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The inevitability of education is increasing by the day because of increasing pressure to catch up with the developed nations when it comes to global competitiveness (Hawkins 2002). Before the introduction of virtual learning many people who wanted to obtain tertiary institution degree had to compete for the few places that were offered by the public universities. Those offered places had to apply for study leave as they had to go through the traditional learning system. This kind of further education system was characterized by limited number of students that could be absorbed per an academic year and consequent removal from their places of work for the duration of their study. From the reviewed literature, it can be deduced that there seems to be no research studies on the joint contributions of virtual learners’ socio-demographic, hours spent online/offline and prior computer skills variables to their academic performance. Whereas, researchers and theorists (Coldeway, 1986; Calvert, 1986; Garrison, 1987; Kumar, 2001) have stressed the need for a comprehensive approach, taking into account all the experiences of virtual learners as well as the unique aspects of virtual learning environment. In addition, it has also been observed that little research has been devoted to exploring factors that predict the academic performance of virtual learners (Cookson, 1989) while those that even exist concentrated largely on demographic correlates as a component in their studies (Kumar, 2001). Several studies have been carried out on academic performance especially on conventional students, but not much on virtual learning students within Nigeria educational system. The need to sever this ground so as to extend the frontier of knowledge in order to help improve the unimpressive virtual learners’ academic performance necessitates and serves as the motivating factor for undertaking the present piece of research so as to fill the existing important research gap. This study sought to establish whether the “Group Learning Sets” offer its beneficiaries ability to develop the associated concepts; does virtual learning help the students improve their grades, skills, values, procedures and technology necessary to apply in their jobs. The study endeavored to answer the following questions, what role does prior computer skills play in improving student’s performance: In so doing, the study sought to measure the ability of the students to use virtual learning tools such as internet/intranet, computers, and software for particular purposes. What is the role of personal characteristics on academic performance? To measure personal characteristics the study sought to identify variables such as gender, students with special needs, gifted students, and religion these helped the researcher know such personal issues that may influence a student’s usage and acceptance of the technology as may be informed by individual’s socialization. Lastly, what is the impact of hours spent online/offline has on students?
1.3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of virtual learning on the academic performance of students among public secondary school in Iwo Local Government Area of Osun State.
Specifically, the study will:
1. Determine the extent to which virtual learning technologies are available for use in secondary education system in Nigeria
2. Determine the extent to which virtual learning technologies are utilized in secondary education sector in Nigeria.
3. To identify the major problems and constraints against the use of virtual learning technologies for pedagogical application in Nigeria.
4. To determine strategies for improving the availability of virtual learning technologies for teaching and learning in other to improve academic performance of students in secondary school.
5. To determine strategies for improving the utilization of virtual learning technologies in secondary education system in Nigeria.
1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions were raised to guide the study:
1. What is the impact of virtual learning on the academic performance of secondary school students in Nigeria?
2. To what extent is virtual learning technologies available for use in secondary education system in Nigeria?
3. To what extent is virtual learning technologies utilized in secondary education system in Nigeria?
4. What are the major problems and constraints against the use of virtual learning technologies for pedagogical application in secondary education system in Nigeria?
5. What are strategies for improving the availability of virtual learning technologies for teaching and learning in other to improve academic performance of students in secondary schools in Nigeria?
6. What are the strategies for improving the utilization of virtual learning technologies in secondary education system in Nigeria?
1.5. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
The following hypotheses were raised to be tested in this study.
H1: There is no significant relationship between virtual learning and academic performance of secondary school student.
H2: There is no significant relationship between virtual learning and academic performance of junior secondary school student.
H3: There is no significant relationship between virtual learning and academic performance of senior secondary school students.
1.6. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The significance of the study is centered on the students, educational planner, administrators and the general public. There are a lot of benefits to derive on the use of virtual learning technologies. The findings of the study will encourage undergraduates and students to develop skills and competencies in virtual learning technologies for teaching and learning in Tertiary education programme. Curriculum planners will be made to design curriculum that will encourage and emphasize technology driven education at the 21st century in Tertiary education course contents which will improve students’ skills and competencies for employability and self sustainability. The study will provide improved performance in terms of teaching and learning abilities of undergraduates and students of Tertiary institutions. It will also promote conveniences and flexibility of students through self paced and time, as well as increased access to instructors of best quality through share of knowledge across boarders, viz online and internet connectivity. Additionally, administrators and managers of Tertiary education in Tertiary institution will be able to access students’ payments, records, admission, evaluating and results, on-line registration, online assessment and exchange programmes.
1.7. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of this study is on the influence of virtual learning on the academic performance of secondary school student in Iwo Local Government Area, Osun State.
1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
The influence of virtual learning on the academic performance of students in public secondary schools is a topic of significant interest, especially given the widespread adoption of digital technology in education, which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some key points to consider when examining this influence:
- Access to Technology: One of the primary factors affecting the academic performance of students in virtual learning is access to technology. Not all students have equal access to devices and the internet. The digital divide can lead to disparities in performance, as students with limited access may struggle to keep up with online coursework.
- Quality of Virtual Learning: The quality of the virtual learning experience can greatly impact academic performance. Well-designed, interactive, and engaging online courses can enhance learning outcomes, while poorly designed ones can have the opposite effect.
- Self-Directed Learning: Virtual learning often requires students to take more responsibility for their learning. They need to manage their time effectively and stay motivated. Some students thrive in this environment, while others may struggle without the structure of a traditional classroom.
- Teacher Competence: Teachers play a crucial role in the success of virtual learning. Their ability to adapt to online teaching methods, provide support, and facilitate student engagement can make a significant difference in student performance.
- Social Interaction: Traditional classrooms provide opportunities for social interaction and collaboration, which can positively influence academic performance. Virtual learning can sometimes lack these interpersonal elements, potentially impacting the overall learning experience.
- Assessment and Feedback: Effective assessment and timely feedback are important for student growth. Virtual learning environments may require adjustments in assessment methods and feedback mechanisms, as traditional methods might not be as effective in the online setting.
- Individualized Learning: Virtual learning allows for greater individualization, enabling students to progress at their own pace. This can be beneficial for some students, but it may also lead to gaps in knowledge if not properly monitored.
- Digital Literacy: Students need to be digitally literate to succeed in virtual learning. Schools may need to provide training and support to ensure that students have the necessary skills to navigate online platforms.
- Parental Involvement: Parental involvement is a significant factor. In virtual learning, parents often need to take a more active role in their child’s education. The level of support and guidance parents provide can impact academic performance.
- Mental Health and Well-being: The impact of virtual learning on students’ mental health and well-being is an important consideration. Isolation and screen time can have effects on overall well-being, which, in turn, can influence academic performance.
- Motivation and Engagement: Virtual learning can be less engaging for some students, and motivation can be a challenge. Gamification and interactive tools can help keep students engaged and motivated.
- Economic and Social Factors: Socioeconomic factors, such as income level and family support, can also affect a student’s access to resources and, consequently, academic performance in a virtual learning environment.
It’s important to note that the impact of virtual learning on academic performance is a complex issue, and the outcomes can vary widely from one student to another. To draw meaningful conclusions, it’s necessary to consider all of these factors, as well as the specific context and circumstances of each public secondary school. Researchers and educators continue to study this topic to better understand its implications and improve virtual learning experiences for students.