E-Learning Readiness in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya: The Case Of Nakuru Municipality
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Date
2011-12
Authors
Karanja, D.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
This study sought to investigate the status of E-Iearning readiness in public secondary schools in
Kenya given the agreement by educators and policy makers across the world on the importance
of Information and Communication Technologies (lCTs) to the future of education. There is also
a policy emphasis by ministry of education on ICT integration into education and training
systems in Kenya. The main objective of the study was to assess the level of preparedness or
public second all' schools in Kenya to implement E-Iearning so as to enhance access, equity and
quality in secondary education. The study employed a descriptive survey design. Head teachers,
teachers and students of public secondary schools were targeted. Systematic sampling technique
was used to select ten (10) schools from 3_ list organized in order of performance of Kenya
Certificate of Secondary.Examination (KCSE)- (2009) by public secondary.schools inNakuru
municipality. The researcher then used simple random sampling to select 24 students from each
school. In mixed gender schools, stratified random sampling was employed to select the students
with the sampling strata being student's gender. Students in form three were stratified into boys
and girls, and then simple random sampling employed to select 12 boys and 12 girls. The total
students sample from the ten schools was 240. Five (5) teachers were randomly selected from
each school for the study, giving a total of 50 teachers. Head teachers were purposively selected
from the ten selected schools to have a total of 10 head teachers. The total sample size for the
study was 300 respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect data After coding the responses
manually, data was entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer
program for analysis. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages and mean were used
to analyze the data quantitatively. Qualitative data obtained from the open-ended questions was
analyzed according to themes based on the study objectives and the research questions and
thereafter, inferences and conclusions were drawn. Analyzed data was presented using tables, bar
graphs and charts. The study revealed that public secondary schools in Kenya lack adequate ICT
infrastructure and connectivity to support effective E-Iearning delivery. There are no
standardized software, application programmes and digital content suitable for E-Iearning and
also there exist capacity building gaps among teachers on how to integrate ICT tools in
education. Ii-learning is mostly limited to computer based training and schools are not benefiting
from other modes like on-line learning, synchronous and asynchronous learning. On the strength
of the findings and the subsequent conclusions drawn, this study recommended among other
things that education stakeholders in the country should finance provision of ICT facilities,
digital equipments and Internet connectivity in public secondary schools. The Ministry of
Education should also train all the teachers on how to integrate ICTs in education in addition to
providing standardized E-Iearning software, application programmes and digital content to all
schools in the country to enhance their uptake of E-learning delivery systems.
Description
Department of Educational Management Policy & Curriculum Studies, 109p. 2011