Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Document Type
Article
Abstract
In recent years, there has been a groundswell of interest on how computers and the internet can best be harnessed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of education and training in both formal and informal settings. For effective and modern information services, the use of information and communication technology is indispensable. Not only does ICT introduce new ways of information handling in universities, it also brings about change in the very structure of information and its communication concepts like universal bibliography, accessibility to and availability of documents irrespective of location, highly personalized services, matching users needs interests with document databases, full text searches, storage and retrieval with speed and accuracy etc. As such students will be able to benefit maximally when the electronic services are in order and the lecturers attend to them appropriately. Unfortunately what we observe in our tertiary institutions as regards to ICT instructional mode is unpleasant. The main methods of teaching up till now remain the marker and talk in spite of curricular changes, scientific and technological inventions including ICT has not taken effect. The situation is almost the same in universities and the colleges of education, instruction is mainly through dictation of notes and giving out handouts a situation whereby many students copy lots of notes from their lecturers both in their teaching subjects, general studies as well as education. This tends to make our tertiary institutions to operate at a lower technological level than the societies in the western world. There is therefore the need for the lecturers and the students to key into the new pedagogical approach of using ICT to facilitate the instructional activities in the classroom setting.