Effect of Computer-Based Instruction on Technical Skills Acquisition of Students in Nigerian Technical Colleges

Technical skills acquisition among students in Nigerian technical colleges has remained a persistent concern of technical and vocational education stakeholders, with successive National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) Chief Examiners' reports identifying weak practical competence, alongside adequate theoretical knowledge, as a recurrent candidate deficiency. This study empirically investigated the effect of computer-based instruction on the technical skills acquisition of students in Nigerian technical colleges, using Electrical Installation and Maintenance Works (EIMW) as the substantive trade area. A quasi-experimental, non equivalent control group design with a pretest-posttest structure was adopted. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used: one federal or state polytechnic was randomly selected, by balloting, from each of Nigeria's six geo-political zones; one government technical college was then randomly selected from the host community of each selected polytechnic; and intact National Technical Certificate Two (NTC II) EIMW classes within each technical college were randomly assigned to experimental (computer-based instruction) and control (conventional demonstration lecture method) groups, yielding a total sample of two hundred and forty (240) students across the six geo-political zones. Data were collected using a researcher-developed Technical Skills Achievement Test (TSAT), comprising a twenty-item cognitive knowledge component (Kuder Richardson KR-21 = 0.84) and a fifteen-item Practical Skill Rating Scale scored by two trained instructors on core EIMW psychomotor tasks (inter-rater reliability r = 0.88), and analysed using mean, standard deviation, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), with pretest score as covariate, at the 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that students taught EIMW using computer-based instruction achieved significantly higher mean posttest technical skills scores than those taught using the conventional demonstration-lecture method, F(1,237) = 52.14, p < .05, and that there was no statistically significant interaction effect of teaching method and gender on technical skills acquisition, F(1,237) = 1.06, p > .05. The study concludes that computer-based instruction significantly and equitably enhances technical skills acquisition among students in Nigerian technical colleges, and recommends its wider adoption alongside deliberate investment in computer hardware, relevant simulation software, and structured instructor training.