ICT COMPETENCY NEEDS OF BUSINESS EDUCATORS FOR EFFECTIVE PERFORMANCE IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN ANAMBRA STATE

The study determined the ICT competency needs of business educators for effective performance in colleges of education in Anambra State. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was used in the study. The population for the study consists of 156 Business Educators in three colleges of education offering business education programmes in the state. The entire population was studied without sampling because the size was manageable. The instrument used for data collection was a four-point rating scale questionnaire containing 45 items in two sections according to the research questions. The instrument was validated by the three experts, two of them from Business and Entrepreneurship Education Department and one in Measurement and Evaluation option from Department of Mathematics and Computer Education, both from the Faculty of Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu. The study was carried out in Anambra State, Nigeria, using a descriptive survey research design. Cronbach's Alpha was used to determine the reliability coefficient, which yielded 0.89. Out of 156 copies of the questionnaire distributed, 149 copies were retrieved and used for analysis, representing a 95.51% return rate. Mean score ratings were used to answer the research questions, and t-test was used to test the two null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance at 147 degree of freedom. Findings of the study revealed that networking and computer operation competencies are highly needed by the business educators in colleges of education in Anambra State for effective performance. Based on the findings, the study concludes that the identified ICT competencies are needed by business educators for effective performance. It was recommended among others that business educators in colleges of education in the area should develop networking and computer operation competencies for effective performance. While the government and concerned bodies should support and sponsor the business educators to in-service training on the acquisition of the identified ICT competency needs for effective job performance.