Assessment of the Use of Student-Centered Instructional Strategies for Teaching in Technical Colleges in Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Assessment of the Use of Student-Centered Instructional Strategies for Technical Colleges in Niger State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted in the two technical colleges in Niger state. The target population was 55 respondents consisting of 38 experienced and 17 less experienced teachers. The instrument for data collection titled Questionnaire on the use of student-centered instructional Technique was developed by the researcher. The instrument was validated by three lecturers from the Department of Industrial and Technology Education, Federal University of Technology, Minna. Cronbach Alfa was used to ascertain the reliability coefficient of the instrument which was found to be 0.89. Mean and standard deviation was used fo answer the research question while t-test statistic was used to test the hypotheses at.0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that student-centered instructional strategies was not used for teaching at technical colleges in Niger state. The findings of the study also revealed that there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of the experienced teachers and less experienced teachers on the extent of usage of student-centered instructional strategies for teaching at technical colleges in Niger State. The study. further revealed that lack of facilities, poor funding, inadequate teachers knowledge-based and student demand to some specific nature among others contributed to non use off the student-centered instructional strategies. Based on the findings, it was recommended that student centered instructional strategies identified in the study should be made a requirement for teaching/learning situation at technical colleges in Niger state. Federal and state ministry of education should provide adequate funding, training and retraining opportunities, readily available teaching materials and resources for effective use of student-centered instructional strategies for teaching at technical colleges.