Effective Implementation of Entrepreneurial Curriculum in Tertiary Education: A Strategy for Job Creation and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria Society (Published)
The research work is based on effective implementation of entrepreneurial curriculum in tertiary education in South East Nigeria. Three research questions and two null hypothesis guided study. A survey research designed was adopted for the study. The study was carried out in government owned colleges of education in South East Nigeria. The population of the study comprised of all the lecturers in Vocational and Technical Education in seven (7) government owned Colleges of Education in South East. Simple random sampling was used in selecting five (5) colleges of education and fourty (40) lecturers was randomly selected from each of the five (5) sample Colleges of Education. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts from department of entrepreneurial education and measurement and evaluation. The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach Alpha which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.78 data. Collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation and t-test analysis. Findings revealed that areas of entrepreneurial skills in the curriculum are electrical installation, shoe making, ICT, Dress making, plumbing, electronic repairs e.t.c. Constraints militating against effective implementation of entrepreneurial curriculum includes inadequate number of trained leavers in adequate fund, lack of equipment, non-challant attitude of some lecturers, lack of students interest e.t.c. Strategies for effective implementation of entrepreneurial curriculum includes amongst others adequate supply of equipment, adequate funding, regular organization of workshops/seminars for lecturers on entrepreneurship, increasing the time for practicals. The hypotheses tested revealed that a significant difference does not exist between the mean responses of male and female lecturers on the areas of entrepreneurial skills to be included in the curriculum and constraint militating against effective implementation of entrepreneurial curriculum in tertiary education at 0.05 level of significance. The study recommends amongst others that entrepreneurship education must be given proper attention by government, entrepreneurial centres must be properly equipped.
Keywords: Curriculum, Effective, Entrepreneur, Implementation, Job Creation, Poverty Reduction, tertiary education
Educational Resource Needs and Access to Tertiary Education among People with Disability in Bayelsa State (Published)
The paper investigated educational resource needs and access to tertiary education among people with disability in Bayelsa State. Three research questions were raised and three hypotheses tested in the study. Mixed method approach was adopted in the study while 165 respondents consisting 160 persons with disability, four Deans of Student Affairs and an executive of Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) in Bayelsa State were sampled for the study using multistage sampling technique. Respondents were selected from within and outside four randomly selected tertiary institutions namely; Bayelsa Medical University (Yenagoa LGA), Federal University Otuoke (Ogbia LGA), Niger Delta University (Southern Ijaw LGA) and Isaac Jasper Boro College of Education (Sagbama LGA). Instruments used for data collection were questionnaire for the persons with disability as well as Focus Group Discussion while five Key Informant Interviews (KIIs)was conducted with the other respondents. Data collected quantitatively were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation and t-test while the qualitative data was analyzed using content and thematic analysis. The finding of the study indicated that financial resource, policy intervention and assistive technology were the priority educational resource need of the respondents. Inaccessibility to tertiary education has implication on the employment prospects and human rights of the respondents and this can only be corrected through appropriate policies, better infrastructure among other strategies. There were differences between the opinion of students and non-students on the issues interrogated. It was recommended that the government should collaborate with school administrators to create a fund for persons with disability who wish to acquire tertiary education across all spheres.
Keywords: Access, Bayelsa State, disability, educational resource, tertiary education
Transition from Conventional Assessment to Authentic Assessment Methods in Tertiary Education 21st Century Classroom in South-East Geo-Political Zone (Published)
This paper investigates the shift from conventional assessment methods to authentic assessment methods in tertiary institutions particularly, in the 21st century classrooms. The paper will focus on exploring students’ preference for conventional and authentic assessment methods, the benefits and challenges of transitioning to authentic assessment methods which emphasizes real-world problem-solving and application of knowledge and skills. Descriptive survey research design was deployed in the study, guided by four research questions and four hypotheses. The population will comprise students from tertiary institutions in South-East geo-political zones in Nigeria. A sample of 1838 students was drawn from five tertiary institutions using simple random sampling and accidental sampling techniques. The instrument for data collection was the “Conventional versus Authentic Assessment Methods in 21st Century Classroom Questionnaire” (CAAM21CCQ). The instrument was adapted from Saher et al. (2022) and Fatmawati (2018) respectively. The estimated reliability coefficient of the instrument using Cronbach Alpha was 0.813. the instrument was administered using Google forms. The research questions were answered with using descriptive statistics. Whereas, the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha levels using paired t-test, independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) as appropriate. Findings indicated that students prefer both assessment methods and authentic assessment foster development of the 21st century skills. Further, no statistically significant difference was found on students’ perception on challenges of authentic assessment methods and the implementation strategies based on gender and programme. It was recommended among others, that educators should combine conventional and authentic assessment methods when necessary.
Keywords: 21st century classroom, Authentic Assessment, conventional assessment, tertiary education