EASE OF USE OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES: PERCEPTION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to ascertain the perception of teachers, students and administrators concerning the ease of using certain digital platforms that were adopted during the lockdown period necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic in Port Harcourt Local Government Area (PHALGA), Rivers State, Nigeria. Descriptive Survey Research design was adopted for this study.  The sample size was seven hundred and forty-two (742) stakeholders which comprised four hundred and nine (409) students, two hundred and ninety-seven (297) teachers and thirty-six (36) administrators from thirty-two (32) private secondary schools. Multistage sampling procedure was employed using different sampling techniques. Three questionnaires (Teachers’ E-learning Practice Questionnaire (TEPQ), Students’ E-learning Practice Questionnaire (SEPQ) and Administrators’ E-learning Practice Questionnaire (AEPQ)) were used to collect data. The reliability index calculated using Cronbach alpha for TEPQ, SEPQ and AEPT was 0.90, 0.78 and 0.91 respectively. The data were analysed using frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviation and chi-square test of independence. The findings revealed that the digital platforms identified in this study are easy to use for teaching, learning and administrative purposes. In addition, gender influenced the perception of teachers and students at a statistically significant level. However, it was not the case for administrators. The researchers therefore recommended that there should be trainings and support available on how the digital platforms should be used to make it easy to use. In addition, at the school level, digital platforms that centralise tasks by featuring tools that help teachers to teach, students to learn and administrators to carry out their administrative duties should be adopted.