The place of educational administrators in promoting e- learning in Nigerian Universities for global competitiveness

Abstract

The study explored the place of educational administrators in promoting e- learning in Nigerian universities for global  competitiveness. The study was guided by three specific purposes and three corresponding research questions. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The populations comprised all Faculty Deans, Head of Departments, Head different Units and lecturers of the Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. A simple random sampling technique was used while the sample size was two hundred respondents; comprising of seven Faculty Deans, twenty H.O.Ds, thirteen Unit Heads and one hundred and sixty lecturers drawn from different Faculties of the institution. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher with the title, “Roles of University Managers in promoting E-learning Questionnaire (RUMEQ)”. The questionnaire was subjected to face and content validity, while a reliability coefficient of 0.78 was gotten using a Cronbach Alpha Reliability Estimate. The instrument was administered personally by the researcher while the data collected was analyzed in relation with the research questions; using mean and standard deviation. The benchmark for the acceptance value for each item was 2.50 and above. This indicates that any item with a mean score of 2.49 or below was not accepted and items with mean values of 2.50 and above were accepted. The study  revealed that educational administrators of every university are major key players in the management of funds, provision of necessary facilities and staff training towards optimizing e-learning in Nigerian universities. It was recommended among others that Federal and State governments in Nigeria should show more commitments in funding university education in the country; while administrators
of universities should be more proactive in evolving viable option for financial sustainability in order to optimize e-learning in Nigerian universities.

Key Words: Educational administrator, university, e-learning and global competitiveness