UTILIZATION OF VIRTUAL LEARNING APPLICATIONS FOR E-LEARNING DELIVERY IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN ENUGU STATE

The study examined the utilization of virtual learning applications for e-learning delivery in public universities in Enugu State. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was 5437 which comprised 839 academic staff and 4598 final year students in University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT. The sample for the study was 523 respondents which comprised 75 lecturers and 448 final year students. The instrument for data collection was a researcher structured questionnaire. The instrument was validated by three research specialists. To ensure the reliability of the instrument, it was trial tested on 12 lecturers and 28 students in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka in Anambra State. To ascertain the internal consistency of the instrument, the researcher used Cronbach alpha statistic. The computation yielded .79 for cluster 1, .82 for cluster 2. The instrument had an overall reliability index of .81 which indicated that the instrument was reliable and, therefore, was used for data collection in this study. The researcher used frequency and percentages to answer research question 1, but used mean scores and standard deviations to answer research questions 2-5. The null hypotheses were tested using t-test statistic at .05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that virtual learning applications are not adequately made available for the lecturers and students’ utilization for e-learning delivery in public universities and the respondents viewed the integration of virtual learning applications into instructional planning in public universities positively. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that Universities management should provide comprehensive training sessions for lecturers and students on utilizing virtual learning applications effectively.