Strategies for Enhancing Teaching of Mechanical Trade through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Facilities in Technical Colleges for Self-Employment in Kogi State, Nigeria

The main purpose of the study was to examine the strategies for enhancing teaching of mechanical trade through the use of information and communication technology (ICT) facilities in technical colleges for self-employment in kogi state. Three research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. Three technical colleges were used for the study. The population of the study comprised 227 teachers and students of mechanical trades, in three technical colleges. The population is manageable; therefore, there was no sampling of the study. The instrument used for data collection was 29 items structured questionnaire, based on five points rating scale. The instrument was validated by two specialists in Department of Technology, School of Science Education, Enugu State University of science and technology (ESUT) Enugu and one in measurement and evaluation department, of MCE, ESULT. The reliability co-efficient of 0.75 was obtained after subjecting the instrument to pre-test. The instrument was administered by the three research assistants and was collected after completion. Statistical package for social science (SPSS) was used to compute mean for each research question and z test for the two null hypotheses. The findings revealed that ICT facilities are unavailable for teaching mechanical trades in technical colleges in Kogi State. Besides that, Teachers are not having sufficient skills in using ICT packages and finally, there are constraints affecting the application of ICT packages in technical college Yola. Therefore, the researcher recommended that, Kogi state government as a matter of urgency, should provide adequate ICT facilities and packages to the state technical colleges, and prepare a conducive atmosphere for the application of the above-mentioned facilities.