| dc.description.abstract | This study sought to establish the influence of institutional and human factors on the readiness to adopt e-learning in secondary schools. The study was carried out in public secondary schools in Kitui District, Kenya. It set out to establish the influence of information and communication technology (lCT) infrastructure, human resource capacity, personal characteristics and attitude on the readiness to adopt e-learning in curriculum implementation at the secondary school level.
The study was guided by four objectives and twelve hypotheses related to the objectives. The objectives were: to establish the extent to which information and communication technology infrastructure (lCT) influences the readiness to adopt e-learning in secondary schools in Kitui District; to determine the extent to which human resource capacity influences the readiness to adopt e-learning in secondary schools in Kitui District; to establish the influence of personal characteristics of secondary school principals, teachers and students on readiness to adopt e-earning in secondary schools; and to establish the extent to which the attitude of principals, teachers and students influence readiness to adopt e-learning in secondary schools in Kitui.District
Cross-sectional survey research design was adopted for the study. The target population included principals, teachers and students from public secondary schools in Kitui District, which had a form three class as at January, 2010. A sample of 66 principals, 66 teachers and 347 students, was selected from 66 public secondary schools out of a total of 80 schools, to represent teachers and learners and to serve as a basis for analysis of their main characteristics and their contribution to the readiness of the institutions to adopt e-leaming, The multiphase sampling procedure was adopted for this study.
Data was collected using questionnaires and an observation schedule. The resultant information was analyzed by employing the quantitative approach which involved descriptive and inferential statistical procedures. The study established that institutional factors such as infrastructure (connectivity, sources of energy and e-equipment) have a significant influence on the readiness to adopt e-learning. However, most of the schools in Kitui district (over 70%) did not have adequate infrastructure to support the adoption of e-learning.
The study also established that human resource capacity did not have significant influence on the readiness to adopt e-learning, since the influence failed to pass the statistical test of significance. Generally, the human resource capacity was not adequate to support the adoption of e-leaming in secondary schools in Kitui district. The study established that, the readiness to adopt elearning in secondary schools is influenced by the personal characteristics of principals, teachers and students. Level of education of both the principals and teachers had the greatest influence on the readiness to adopt e-learning, while the most influential personal characteristic of students was the type of school they attended.
It was established that, although e-leaming technology is relevant to schools, its adoption could face resistance from some schools due to over emphasis on the examination and traditional way of teaching and learning. It was also established that the attitude held by secondary school Principals and Teachers had no significant influence on the schools' readiness to adopt e-Iearning. However, the attitude held by students had a significant influence on the schools' readiness to adopt e-Iearning.
The study recommends that the government should plan to address the issue of e-Iearning infrastructure by availing e-Iearning equipment, enhancing connection to reliable sources of power, improving connectivity to various internet services and augmenting Human Resource capacity by organizing training programmes for Principals, Teachers and Students. Secondary schools should employ support staff members such as computer laboratory technicians or assistants before embarking on full-scale implementation of e-Iearning in schools in Kitui District and, indeed, all other remote semi-arid districts in Kenya. | en_US |
