AWARENESS OF VIRTUAL LEARNING AMONG STUDENTS OF TWO NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES: CURRICULUM IMPLICATIONS (Published)
This study investigated the extent of awareness of virtual learning among students in two public universities in Anambra State. Guided by two research questions, a sample of 640 year three students was used. The survey research design was used. A researcher-developed questionnaire titled “Virtual Learning Awareness Questionnaire” (VLAQ) was used to collect data. The findings indicated that a greater percentage of the students were unaware of what constitutes virtual learning and its’ benefits. There were also differences between male and female students’ awareness of what constitutes virtual learning and its benefits. The findings imply that the students lacked much knowledge of what virtual learning entails and the benefits to their curriculum offerings. Consequently, they are not likely to highly engage in virtual learning to enrich their course curriculum. This could limit their global participation and make them lag behind other students in the international arena. Besides, the extent of awareness was higher for female than male students. There is the implication that this trend would result in gender gap in virtual learning against male students in the future. It was recommended that efforts should be made to improve virtual learning of students and such efforts would need to be targeted at reducing any gender gap and integrating virtual activities in curriculum delivery
Keywords: Benefits, Information and Communication Technology, awareness, curriculum content, global participation, virtual learning