A Historical Analysis of the Introduction, Spread and Impact of Western Education in Southern Taraba Area, 1905 to 2018 (Published)
Education can be construed as a pattern of awareness which determines and influences the behavioural pattern of any given society. It encompasses societal civilization, values, norms and traditions. It is a people’s belief system, system of thought, an instrument through which a society produces and reproduces its kind in the light of what makes one a representation of his/her society. Every society therefore has its own system of education through which cultural transmission and socialization are anchored. Unfortunately, former colonies erroneously consider western education as the only best alternative for all-round development. It is viewed as the basic instrument for civilization, gainful employment, socialization, economic prosperity and development. This conventional assumptions has resulted in the eventual neglect of the traditional education by African societies, Southern Taraba inclusive. This paper therefore examine the process of introduction and spread of western education in Southern Taraba Area. The paper captures issues like the agencies and individuals involved, the impact, challenges encountered and how the challenges can be remedied. Thus, using a multi-disciplinary methodological approach, the study came to the realization that western education has impacted tremendously on the peoples of Southern Taraba Area in the spheres of human, infrastructural, political and socio-economic development.
Keywords: Challenges, Development, Education, Impact, Influence, history, western education
Influence of Social Media on Students’ Discipline in Secondary Schools in Kenya (Published)
Social media are technologies that facilitate social interaction, make possible collaboration and enable deliberation across stakeholders. The study sought to develop strategies for managing the influence of social media on students’ discipline in secondary schools. The objective of this paper is to determine the extent to which social media has influenced students’ discipline in schools based on the research. The study utilized the pragmatic philosophical paradigm and the mixed methods research design where both positivists and constructivists approaches and techniques were combined. The study was undertaken in Bungoma County in Kenya. It was carried out in 306 secondary schools in the County targeting a population of 19,000 Form 3 students. Scott Smith`s formula was used to determine the sample size of 600 students from 40 secondary schools as respondents. Purposive sampling was applied to select the 40 deputy principals and 40 heads of guidance and counselling departments from the selected secondary schools as respondents in the study. Three categories of boys’, girls’ and mixed schools were chosen from each sub-county. The questionnaires used had both closed- and open-ended items. Interviews were also used to get more information for the study. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyse data. Social media was found to have influenced students’ discipline negatively in schools. The study recommended that parents, educational and political leaders should implement policies on limiting social media influence on students’ discipline. It is expected that the Kenya Ministry of Education and other education stakeholders will utilize the results of the study to manage the influence of the social media on students’ discipline in secondary schools.
Keywords: Discipline, Influence, Kenya, Secondary Schools, Social media, Students
Influence of Twitter on Cognitive Development of Nigerian Youths (Published)
This study was conducted to examine the influence of Twitter on cognitive development of Nigerian youths. Conceptual and empirical literatures were reviewed and the study was anchored on Social cognitive theory. The study adopted online survey research method (Google form) and used online Nigerian youths as respondents. A sample for the study was drawn using Morgan formula to draw a representative sample size of 384 from a population of 64,000,000 youths being the population of Nigerian youth. Availability sampling technique was adopted to administer questionnaire to respondents. Two research questions and one hypothesis were formulated to guide the proper investigation of the study. The quantitative data gathered from questionnaire were analyzed with the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) using tables and charts to further explained the result of the findings. Findings revealed that tweeters found Twitter very engaging and useful which resulted into its everyday usage; increasing their knowledge which aided their cognitive development. The researchers concluded that there is significant positive relationship between influence of Twitter and cognitive development of youths and therefore recommended that institutions of higher learning in Nigeria should use Twitter as educational and learning tool.
Keywords: Influence, Twitter, Youths, cognitive development
VIEWERSHIP OF BIG BROTHER AFRICA REALITY TV SHOW AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE MORAL CONDUCT OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN EBONYI STATE UNIVERSITY, ABAKALIKI, NIGERIA (Published)
Big Brother Africa’ is a reality television show in which a group of persons are brought together in secluded large house, isolated from the outside world, and made to live together while being continuously watched by television cameras. According to Chikafa (2012), the concept was borrowed from George Orwell’s novel of 1984 titled ‘fictional dystopia of Oceania’ in which he described a world of never-ending surveillance. In the novel, the dictator who watched over the citizens of Oceania was called Big Brother; his terrifying slogan was ‘Big Brother is watching you’. In the Big Brother television show, contestants confined in the house compete to escape eviction in order to win the prize money. The reality TV show debuted on the African continent in 2003 and has remained an annual event till date. This study investigated the viewership of the programme and its influence on the moral conducts of undergraduate students of Ebonyi state university, Abakaliki, Nigeria. The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative research designs, using a triangulation of data collected with survey questionnaire and oral interviews. A total of 350 copies of questionnaire were distributed to students of the four campuses of the university using cluster multi-stage and simple random sampling techniques. A structured 20 items questionnaire of the modified five-point Likert scale of very high, high, average, low and very low was used to generate data. Findings suggest that Big Brother Africa has wide viewership among Ebonyi state university undergraduate students and it influences their perception and attitude towards decency and morality. Some of them learn technical kidnapping skills while others learn to cohabit with the opposite sex in their off campus hostels, and this contributes to the many cases of rape, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion and abortion related deaths among this vulnerable group. The work recommends mass education on media ratings and encouraging producers of BBA to adhere to the principles, and calls for restructuring of the programme to reflect more indigenous way of life
Keywords: Big Brother Africa, EBSU Undergradua Students., Influence, Moral Conducts, Viewership
AGRICULTURAL MESSAGE INFLUENCE ON FOOD PRODUCTION PARTICIPATION IN NIGERIA (Published)
Food security demands that citizens participate actively in food production. How to persuade people to participate in food production programmes is the task for agricultural messages. The “Imo Food Basket Programme” in Nigeria was used to determine why messages were ineffective in persuading long-lasting participation in food production. A sample of 325 was drawn purposively from the population of the five zonal farm clusters in the state. The triangulation method used both observation and survey to obtain data, while the Likert scale and simple percentage were used to analyze them. It was found that a message which does not satisfy its audience expectation cannot persuade intended action. It was also found that the agricultural message set the food production agenda but was ineffective in determining how recipients responded to it. Finally, it was observed that some other motives stimulated participation in food production, other-than the presented message. It becomes advisable that agricultural messages must specify accruable benefits in food production participation if it expects to achieve the desired objective. Interest can only be substantiated where disposition controls action.
Keywords: Agricultural Message, Food Production, Influence, Participation