Faculty of Education, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. ABSTRACT
The study investigated the effective utilization of information and communication technology in counselling among Ekiti State Secondary School Students in Nigeria. The importance of guidance and counselling programme in secondary schools is to assist students in having an increased understanding of the educational, vocational and social information needed to make wise choices. In our society there are many influencing forces responsible for the gradual recognition of formal guidance among young people in various educational levels. The essence of incorporating guidance and counselling into the school system was to eliminate overwhelming ignorance of many young people on their choices of career prospects and personality maladjustment among school children. The role of ICT in guidance can be seen as a tool, as an alternative, or as an agent of change. The paper recommends that principals should make provision for guidance and counselling on the school time table. Most importantly secondary school ICT adoption should be encouraged by the ministry of education.
KEYWORDS: Counselling, Effective Utilization of ICT INTRODUCTION
Counselling is a process where the client and counsellor work together to come up with different ways of resolving various challenges. Counselling is an opportunity to talk about what troubles you and to be listened to in a way which assists you to understand yourself better, including your thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The process that occurs when a client and counsellor set aside time in order to explore difficulties which they want to discuss may include the stressful or emotional feelings of the client. The act of helping the client to see things more clearly, possibly from a different view-point can enable the client to focus on feelings, experiences or behaviour with a view of facilitating positive change. A relationship of trust and confidentiality is paramount to successful counselling. Counsellors will usually explain their policy on confidentiality, they may, however, be required by law to disclose information if they believe that there is a risk to life. Counselling can help you to explore difficult feelings and
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31 work out some ways of living your life more positively or constructively and by this the client is satisfied and happy within himself.
Counselling provides a form of education, which the students receive from their counsellors. In the National Policy of Education (2004, 4th edition) the 6-3-3-4 system demand for guidance and counselling is apparently made clear. There was agreement also, with a very negligible deviation that the school time-table does not make provisions for guidance and counselling activities. The essence of incorporating guidance and counselling into the school system was to eliminate overwhelming ignorance of many young people on their choices of career prospects and personality maladjustment among school children. The role of ICT in guidance can be seen in three ways: as a tool, as an alternative, or as an agent of change. The growth of websites and help lines as forms of technically mediated service delivery means that the potential of ICT as an agent of change is now greater than ever before. The telephone, websites and e-mail, alongside face- to-face facilities, could be alternative services; or they could be portals into a wide, flexible and well-harmonized network of services. The importance of guidance and counselling programme in secondary schools, include assisting the students to have an increased understanding of the educational, vocational and social information needed to make wise choices. In our society there are many influencing force responsible for the gradual recognition of formal guidance to young people in various educational levels. This review paper focuses on the role of ICT on guidance and counselling in secondary schools. However principals have false impression that a school can function effectively and profitably without a guidance counsellor. The paper recommends that principals should make provision for guidance and counselling on the school time table. Most importantly secondary school ICT adoption should be encouraged by the ministry of education.
Information Communication and Technology (ICT) can be utilized effectively in the following ways:
1. Engage and enthuse learners, 2. Raise achievement
3. Enable better understanding 4. Foster improved communication 5. Have a positive impact on workload
ICT (information and communications technology or technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. ICTs are often spoken of in a particular context, such as ICTs in
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32 education, health care, or libraries. The term may be more common in the United States.
According to the European Commission, the importance of ICTs lies less in the technology itself than in its ability to create greater access to information and communication in underserved populations. Many countries around the world have established organizations for the promotion of ICTs, because it is feared that unless less technologically advanced areas have a chance to meet up, the increasing technological advances in developed nations will only serve to exacerbate the already-existing economic gap between technological "have" and "have not" areas. Internationally, the United Nations actively promotes ICTs for Development as a means of bridging the communication gap.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become common issues in all aspects of life. In the past twenty years the use of ICT has fundamentally changed the practices and procedures of nearly all forms of endeavour within business and governance. Education is a very socially oriented activity and quality education has traditionally been associated with counsellors having high degrees of personal contact with learners. The use of ICT in education lends credence to more student- learning centres. But with the world moving rapidly into digital media and information, the role of ICT in education is becoming more and more important and this importance will continue to grow and develop in the 21st century. In this paper, a literature review regarding the use of ICT in education was provided in the following areas: Effective use of ICT for Education, along with ICT use in the teaching learning process; quality and accessibility of education; learning motivation, Learning environment and an overview of the ICT and scholastic performance.
According to Daniels (2002), ICTs have become within a very short time, one of the basic building blocks of modern society. Many countries now regard the understanding of ICT and mastering the basic skills and concepts of ICT as part of the core of education, alongside reading, writing and numeracy. However, there appears to be a misconception that ICTs generally refers to ‗computers and computing related activities‘. This is fortunately not the case, although computers and their application play a significant role in modern information management, other technologies and systems that also comprise of the phenomenon that is commonly regarded as ICTs. Pelgrum and Law (2003) state that near the end of the 1980s, the term ‗computers‘ was replaced by ‗IT‘ (information technology) signifying a shift of focus from computing technology to the capacity to store and retrieve information. This was followed by the introduction of the term ‗ICT‘ (information and communication technology) around 1992, when e-mail started to become available to the general public (Pelgrum & Law, 2003). According to a United Nations report (1999), ICTs cover Internet service provision, telecommunications equipment and services, information technology equipment
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33 and services, media and broadcasting, libraries and documentation centres, commercial information providers, network-based information services, and other related information and communication activities.
According to United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (2002), information and communication technology (ICT) may be regarded as the combination of ‗Informatics technology‘ with other related technology, specifically communication technology. The various kinds of ICT products available and having relevance to education, such as teleconferencing, email, audio conferencing, television lessons, radio broadcasts, interactive radio counselling, interactive voice response system, audiocassettes, CD ROMs, etc have been used in education for different purposes (Sharma, 2003; Sanyal, 2001; Bhattacharya & Sharma, 2007).
The field of education has been affected by ICTs, which have undoubtedly affected teaching, learning, and research (Osakinle et al., 2009). A great deal of research has proven the benefits to the quality of education (Al-Ansari, 2006). ICTs have the potential to innovate, accelerate, enrich, and deepen skills, to motivate and engage students, to help relate school experience to work practices, create economic viability for tomorrow's workers, as well as strengthening teaching and helping schools change. Davis and Tearle (1999), states that much has been said and reported about the impact of technology, especially computers, in education. Initially computers were used to teach computer programming but the development of the microprocessor in the early 1970s saw the introduction of affordable microcomputers into schools at a rapid rate. Computers and applications of technology became more pervasive in society which led to a concern about the need for computing skills in everyday life. Hepp, Hinostroza, Laval and Rehbein (2004) claim in their paper titled ―Technology in Schools: Education, ICT and the Knowledge Society‖ that ICTs have been utilized in education ever since their inception, but they have not always been massively present. Although at that time computers have not been fully integrated in the learning of traditional subject matter, the commonly accepted rhetoric that education systems would need to prepare citizens for lifelong learning in an information society boosted interest in ICTs (Pelgrum & Law, 2003).
The 1990s was the decade of computer communications and information access, particularly with the popularity and accessibility of internet-based services such as electronic mail and the World Wide Web (WWW). At the same time the CD- ROM became the standard for distributing packaged software (replacing the floppy disk). As a result, educators became more focused on the use of the technology to improve student learning as a rationale for investment. Any discussion about the use of computer systems in schools is built upon an understanding of the link between schools, learning and computer technology. When the potential use of computers in schools was first mooted, the
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34 predominant conception was that students would be ‗taught‘ by computers (Pelgrum & Law, (2003). In a sense it was considered that the computer would ‗take over‘ the teacher‘s job in much the same way as a robot computer may take over a welder‘s job. Collis (1989) refers to this as ―a rather grim image‖ where ―a small child sits alone with a computer‖. However, the use of information and communication technologies in the educative process has been divided into two broad categories: ICTs for Education and ICTs in Education. ICTs for education refers to the development of information and communications technology specifically for teaching and learning purposes, while the ICTs in education involves the adoption of general components of information and communication technologies in the teaching learning process.
In Ekiti State the Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi made sure that every student in all the senior secondary schools in Ekiti State as well as their teachers were given laptops to enhance effective teaching and learning in the schools among the students. However, a few of the students used the laptop contrary to what they are met for. For example, a few of them used it to watch pornography films, playing music on it, making of yahoo yahoo (using the laptop to dupe innocent foreigners). This is the evident in the cases of raids carried out by police men in Ekiti State. A few of the cases are in court not only in Ekiti State but in other parts of the country. Furthermore, there are a few students that use the laptops positively to browse for assignment given as well as becoming proficient for typing projects for their undergraduates relations.
CONCLUSIONS
Globalization and information revolution is increasingly changing the learning process in higher education in Europe and America. Globalization has challenged higher institutions in Nigeria and in particular South East Universities to face new type of learning involving the use of ICT facilities to improve counselling which is expected in Ekiti State as well. It has been observed that there is a lack of ICT infrastructure in schools. It is recommended that attention must be given to the availability of ICT facilities in schools. According to Osakinle, Adegoroye and Olajubutu (2009), the internet is the core of computer mediated communication. The internet system is worldwide and connects millions of computer networks, providing an incredible array of information adolescents can access. And because of these capacities, the internet has more up-to-date information than books. Youths throughout the world are increasingly using the internet, despite substantial variation in use in different countries around the world and in socioeconomic groups. The question is: what do adolescents do when they are online? E-mail is the most frequent activity they engage in and more than 70 percent of the adolescents who go online connect with a chat room. Furthermore; the internet holds a great deal of potential for increasing adolescents‘ education. However, the internet also has limitations on viewing and adolescent behaviour.
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35 The internet is a technology that needs guide, the societies as well as parents need to monitor and regulate adolescents‘ use of it.
RECOMMENDATIONS
From the review of the effective utilization of ICT among Ekiti State Secondary School Students, it is discovered that the availability of Internet services in schools will help the counsellors and students. Therefore, the researcher recommends that:
1. Government should provide ICT facilities for students, counsellors and lecturers in higher institutions.
2. Electricity is very essential and should be provided in Universities so that counsellors, teachers and students will participate in the information and communication technology age.
3. The schools should have counselling labs provided with air conditioners as well as standing generating sets to preserve the facilities and counter the effect of persistent power outage.
4. Counsellors should give their students assignment that requires e- learning. 5. School counsellors should improve their use of the Internet for counselling.
They need to use the Internet as a tool for e-learning to gain more professional knowledge and help students in their learning.
REFERENCE
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Daniels, J.S. (2002). “Foreword” in Information and Communication Technology in Education–A Curriculum for Schools and Programme for Teacher Development. Paris: UNESCO.
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36 Fister, K. R., & McCarthy, M. L. (2008).―Mathematics instruction and the tablet PC‖. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology. 39 (3), 285-292.
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37 Roberts, D.F., Henricksen L. & Foehr U.G., (2004). Adolescents and the Media. In R. Lerner and L. Steinberg (Eds), Handbook of Adolescent Psychology 2nd Ed. New York: Wiley.
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38 CHAPTER FIVE
CRIMINAL GANGS IN URBAN AREAS: A THREAT TO DEMOCRATIC