Utilization of Computer and its Facilities for Technical Education Research at Colleges of Education in Rivers State

The study focused on the utilization of computer and its facilities for technical education research at colleges of education in Rivers State. The study adopted an explanatory sequential research design. The population of this study comprised all the 42 technical education lecturers and 68 final year technical education degree students in Federal College of Education (Technical) Omoku. The entire population was used because it was manageable, therefore, there was no sampling technique adopted for this study. Survey questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument was face validated by two lecturers in the School of Secondary Education (Technical), Federal College of Education, Technical Omoku. The reliability of the instrument was established using Kuder Richardson 20 and Cronbach Alpha Reliability Coefficient methods. Kuder Richardson 20 was used to test the reliability of section A, while Cronbach Alpha Reliability Coefficient was used to test the reliability of Section B. The reliability coefficient achieved was .76 for Kuder Richardson 20 and .81 for Cronbach Alpha Reliability Coefficient. The researchers administered the questionnaires to the respondents. Frequency, Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions, while z-test Statistical tool was used to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The study found among others that some of the computer facilities for Technical education research are available but are not highly utilized due to epileptic power supply, inadequate computer facilities in schools, lack of commitment and limited funding of Technical education programme, stealing of computer facilities by hoodlums, lack of students’ access to computer facilities, lecturers’ incompetence, limited exposure to research methodologies, inadequate training and guidance of students and limited integration of computer skills into the curriculum and students’ incompetence, among others. It was therefore recommended among others that government should equip Technical education departments library with computer facilities that students can use when conducting research.