Internet utilization: a case of connected rural and urban secondary schools
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Date
2009Author
Kiptalam, George K
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The study looked at the utilization of the Internet among teachers and students in connected rural and
urban secondary schools. The purpose of the study was to help policy makers, decision makers and
investors make well informed decisions about public policy and investments in leT especially at the
secondary schools by understanding how the Internet and its related components are utilized in these
schools. A survey design was used to guide the research process and participants drawn from 11
secondary schools. Survey questionnaires were distributed to 11 principals, 132 teachers and 752
students. The response rates were 100% for principals (n=II), 74.2% for the teachers (n=98) and
91.9% for the students (n=691).
Data generated was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS®). The main
results has shown the extent to which the Internet is being utilized and has identified factors that
enhance or impede Internet utilization at the secondary schools and which can be used to explain the
integration of Internet into teaching and learning.
The findings of the study has shown that the use of Internet and its integration in the teaching and
learning in secondary education is getting more widespread; and its use more pervasive among
students and teachers as a means of communication and for information searching being common.
Access rates for teachers and students have been observed to be much higher in educational
institutions that have made effective leT investments in education, translating into better utilization of
KT related technologies. The study also found that most of the schools which are connected are
-expending a substantial part of their annual budget on maintaining Internet connectivity, and this
explains why it is estimated by the Ministry of Education that about 3% of the 6,566 secondary
schools in Kenya have any form of Internet connectivity.
Strategies have been suggested on how to utilize the Internet to improve educational outcomes as
recommendations given on issues that touch on leT access and infrastructure; human resources and
Publisher
School of Computing and Informatics
Description
Msc