Influence of information and communication technology on the improvement of secondary schools in Machakos County in Kenya.

Abstract

There are currently about 4000 public secondary schools in Kenya and the recent massive increase in primary school enrolment is putting pressure on the demand for and access to secondary schools. There are obvious benefits for integrating computers into secondary schools as students at this age need to focus on subject-specific content, greater critical thinking skills, scientific inquiry, and math, science and languages. Students will benefit greatly with the analytical, creative, and collaborative power of computers to map out and analyze assumptions, present ideas, and participate in projects with peers from around the country and around the world. This study seeks to establish whether the few schools that have adopted usage of ICT have had any effect on their academic and teaching performance both on the teachers and students. To achieve this key objective the study concentrated on secondary schools in Machakos County. The study objectives were to establish the influence of ICT on teacher workload in secondary schools in Machakos county, to investigate the influence of ICT on administration and management of secondary schools in Machakos county, to determine the influence of ICT on student attainment in secondary schools in Machakos county to investigate the influence of ICT on academic assessment methods in secondary schools in Machakos county and to find out the influence of ICT on students and teachers motivation in secondary schools in Machakos county. The study used SPSS for data analysis and the results of the study revealed that ICT had positive influence on teacher workload. It was found that ICT did not have influence on school management, student attainment, assessment methods and student and teacher motivation. It was concluded that teachers’ work load is important in their motivation and performance effectiveness. It is recommended that the government explores ways of utilizing the time freed through computerization in order to further enhance the productivity of teachers.