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IMPACT OF INTERNET USAGE ON ACADEMIC PERFOMANCE OF

SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

The Internet is a relatively new channel for scholarly resources, and


contains vast quantities of information that vary a great deal regarding
its contents, aim, target group, reliability etc. Hence, it is important
that the end-user is aware of the diverse information available on the
Internet, and educated in the criteria by which the information
content should be assessed (Chapman, 2002). The fabulous growth in
telecommunication has brought online services, specialized electronic
networks, WebPages, E-mail, software and global information
resources to our homes as well as to education.

The Internet provides an environment in which millions of people


participate and engage in the creation and exchange of

information (Rose & Fernlund, 1997).

Students have only recently received the opportunity to use the


Internet to seek and obtain scholarly material and, consequently,
knowledge on how effectively they make use of this channel is limited.
Students’ information seeking culminates as they work on their theses.
Many studies have been conducted regarding the type of information
the endusers seek and obtain on the Internet and in which
circumstances they prefer electronic sources to paper sources
(Tenopir et al. 2003)

According to their survey, approximately 50% of all the scholarly


publications were obtained from the Internet, who studied geography
student’s use of sources on the Internet by analyzing citations from a
test, found that 51% of the citations referred to sources on paper, 47%
of the sources were from the Internet and the rest was course material.
(Fescemeyer, 2000)
Iboronke (2002) has attributed the poor performance to the rise in
students enrolment without corresponding increase in the material
and human resources. In this study the effect of these materials and
human resources on students performance will be investigated.

The use of the available learning resources will improve the academic
performance of students. In order words, one of the opportunities to
stimulate this elaboration process is by offering students more and
more diverse learning resources. Ogunleye’s (2003) review that under
laboratory conditions increasing the richness and diversity of the
learning materials has often been shown to support students in
learning, remembering and applying information.

Internet use has become very popular in many areas as well as in


education in recent years. Accordingly, Internet access in schools has
increased greatly over the last 20 years (Berson, 2000).

Many experts see the computer, combined with multimedia


capabilities, as the new tool that can transform education (Van Horn,
1991) points out that the computer can solve many of the problems
facing teachers. In today’s environment the teacher is expected to have
a large knowledge base. The teacher also has the problem of deciding
to teach at the low end or the high end of the grade level. Many
compromise and teach in the middle. Computers can solve these two
problems by enabling teachers to customize instruction for each
student (McKeown, 1991).

1.2 Statement of problem

The role of Internet in teaching/learning can not be overemphasized.


The issue of the poor academic performance of students is traced to
certain factors which, can hinder student understanding.

Academic achievement is an important parameter in measuring


success in students. Observations and reports have shown that success
or high academic achievement has become a Herculean task to
accomplish by students in recent times. The decline in the academic
performance of students in Nigerian universities had been highlighted
by Soyinka (1999), when he observed that university system in Nigeria
needed restructuring. He went further to say that academic standard
had fallen drastically and the quality of graduates being produced by
the nations universities is questionable and subject to re-examination.
Poor academic achievement of students has been of great concern to
educationists, government and the public in general.

Students’ poor performance in Secondary school has continued to


pose a serious concern to government agencies, parents and the
students themselves (Essien 2004). Most previous studies had tended
to attribute this problem to factors that are extraneous to the learner,
such as poor physical facilities, school environment etc. Various
strategies adopted by different governments and agencies tend not to
address the problem substantially. There is therefore further need to
research into other possible factors or variables underlying students’
performance, since behaviour is a product of environmental and
psychosocial variables.

1.3 The purpose of study

The major purpose of this study is to determine whether internet


usage has any remarkable influence on students academic
performance. Specifically, the study seeks to determine whether:
1. Internet usage can enhance academic performance students.
2. The use of search engines can improve the academic performance
of students.

 E-mail services improve academic performance of students.

1.5 Research questions

These research seeks to answers the following questions in the


course of this investigation.
1. How does internet usage influence the academic performance of
students?
2. To what extent does the use of search engine enhance the academic
performance of students?
 Does E-mail services contribute to students academic
performance?

1.6 Research hypothesis

The following hypotheses were formulated to guide the


investigation of this study.
1. There is no significant relationship between the use of internet and
students academic performance.
2. There is no significant relationship between the use of search
engine and students academic performance.

 There is no significant relationship between e-mail services and


students academic performance.

1.7 Significant of study

the outcome of this study aims at determining whether or not


the use of internet has any significant influence on the academic
performance of students.

More over education is the bedrock of any society. Nigeria as a


developing nation needs a standard secondary schools that has
available learning resources, that teachers can improvise learning
resources easily and more often also where teachers and students
utilize learning resources on a regular basis. It could be a guide line for
incoming students and be educative to them when writing and
studying similar problems in school.

This study has made me to explore into the topic influence of internet
usage on the academic performance of students. It is also a
requirement I must be produce for the award of a degree in
curriculum and teaching, faculty of education.

1.8 Delimitation of the study

This research is designed particularly to know or test the


influence of internet usage on the academic performance of students
in order to guide against negative trend about the falling standard of
education in our society and to improve upon the positive side.

1.9 Limitation of the study

A lot of problems were encountered during the period of this


research like; finance, transportation from one secondary school to
another, some of the issues were not discussed in detail.

Another problem was distance. Due to the long distance from one
village to another within the local government area, it was not possible
for the researcher to move round all the villages for sufficient data.

Also, during the administration of the questionnaires, some students


were not willing to respond to the items. Some refused to answer the
questions out of non challanteness. It was also observed that in some
cases, students were not independent of themselves in answering the
questionnaire items.

1.11 Definition of terms

The following terms are define in the context there are being use
in the study.

Internet: The Internet is a global network connecting millions of


computers.

Performance: An action in which excellence or superiority depend


primarily on abstract mental ability. Any action requiring the
manipulation of abstracts, concepts or mental manipulation of any
sort.

E-mail: Email is electronic mail, a protocol for receiving and sending,


and storing electronic messages.

Search engine: a program that searches for and identifies items in a


database that correspond to keywords or characters specified by the
user, used especially for finding particular sites on the Internet.
Social network: a network of social interactions and personal
relationships.

Website: a location connected to the Internet that maintains one or


more web pages.

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