Effect of the Study Environment and the Performance of Secretarial Students (a Case Study of Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri)
Chapter One
Objectives of the Study
Main Objective
The main objectives of the study is to investigate the impact of study environment and academic performance of secretarial students in Federal Polytechnic Nekede.
Specific Objective
The following are the specific objectives of the study:
- To determine the relationship between classroom building and academic performance of secretarial students in Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri.
- To determine the impact of facilities on the academic performance of secretarial students in Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri.
- To ascertain the impact of class population on the academic performance of secretarial students in Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri.
- To ascertain the impact availability of equipment on students academic performance in Nekede, Owerri.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Conceptual Review
Concept of Study environment
According to Sandberg, J. A. (1994), study environment refers to the whole range of components and activities within which learning happens. Technically speaking, a Study environment relies on computer-supported Systems such as a Learning management system, a combination of various educational technologies (including at least one communication module). Sandberg identified the following as parts of the Computer-Supported Systems:
- Lecturer component: Its role is to provide something between loose guidance and direct instruction. It can be a human agent (present or distant), an intelligent agent, instructions like some text books provide, etc. This component provides information from the syllabus to the task level.
- Monitor component which ensures that something is learned. A role taken by either the human lecturer, the learner (self-control) or by some program.
- Fellow learner’s component: which improves the learning process (some research tries to implement artificial ones).
- Learning material, often Courseware: which contains what has to be learned in a very broad sense (knowing what, knowing how). It can be computational in various ways (exploratory hypertext, lesson and task oriented hypertext, simulation software, task solving environments, etc.).
- External information sources: which includes all kinds of information which is not directly stored in the learning material (e.g. additional material, handbooks, manuals, etc.).
- Tools: which includes everything that may help the learning process other than the learning material (e.g. calculators, communication software, etc.)
As equally opined by Sandberg, J. A. (1994), learners in supportive environments have high levels of self-efficacy and self-motivation and use learning as a primary transformative force. “Welcoming the learner –child, youth or adult– in an environment where they can feel safe and nurtured for is very important for the development of each individual and the society as a whole. Addressing the issue of study environment in a comprehensive and systematic way is even more critical in countries with limited financial resources. These scarce resources should be invested with a clear definition of what constitutes an enabling study environment and with a clear benchmarking of progress toward the attainment of that environment. Despite the wide variety of learning systems and complexity of layers of decision-making, it is critical to not lose the importance of building study environments and integrate these aforementioned considerations in a national and local policy context. This is so because, learning takes place in multiple settings and the study environment can be structured or unstructured and the learning in different environments can complement each other.
Formal and non-formal education occurs mainly in structured environments in the form of institutions (schools, community centers, multimedia centers, learning villages/cities, etc.). Informal education on the other hand takes place in both structured and unstructured environments. With particular emphasis on structured environment the paramount question asked by Sandberg is whether every learner has been assured of an environment that is both physically and psychosocially enabling to their learning and thus conducive to improving the quality of education and learning effectiveness?
The Glossary of Educational Reform (2014), defined study environment as the diverse physical locations, contexts, and cultures in which students learn. Since students may learn in a wide variety of settings, such as outside-of-school locations and outdoor environments, the term is often used as a more accurate or preferred alternative to classroom, which has more limited and traditional connotations—a room with rows of desks and a chalkboard, for example. The term also encompasses the culture of a school or class—its presiding philosophy and characteristics, including how individuals interact with and treat one another—as well as the ways in which lecturers may organize an educational setting to facilitate learning. This definition recognizes that students learn in many different ways in very different contexts. Since learners must do the learning, the aim is to create a total environment for learning that optimizes the ability of students to learn. There is of course no single optimum study environment. There is an infinite number of possible study environments, which is what makes teaching so interesting.
According to the report, study environment refers to the diverse physical locations, contexts, and cultures in which students learn. Since students may learn in a wide variety of settings, such as outside-of-school locations and outdoor environments, the term is often used as a more accurate or preferred alternative to classroom, which has more limited and traditional connotations—a room with rows of desks and a chalkboard, for example. The term also encompasses the culture of a school or class—its presiding philosophy and characteristics, including how individuals interact with and treat one another—as well as the ways in which lecturers may organize an educational setting to facilitate learning e.g. by conducting classes in relevant natural ecosystems, grouping desks in specific ways, decorating the walls with learning materials, or utilizing audio, visual, and digital technologies. And because the qualities and characteristics of a study environment are determined by a wide variety of factors, school policies, governance structures, and other features may also be considered elements of a “study environment.”
The report also highlighted that educators may argue that study environments have both a direct and indirect influence on student learning, including their engagement in what is being taught, their motivation to learn, and their sense of well-being, belonging, and personal safety. For example, study environments filled with sunlight and stimulating educational materials would likely be considered more conducive to learning than drab spaces without windows or decoration, as would schools with fewer incidences of misbehavior, disorder, bullying, and illegal activity. How adults interact with students and how students interact with one another may also be considered aspects of a study environment, and phrases such as “positive study environment” or “negative study environment” are commonly used in reference to the social and emotional dimensions of a school or class.
Schneider (1995) opined that Teaching and Learning “meet” in the teaching and study environment. Building a good study environment means taking into account both the psychologist’s and the instructionalist’s perspectives.
Advanced Research on Study environments (mostly in the field of artificial intelligence and education, can gave some insights on how to build a good learning and teaching environment. An Advanced Study environment refers to a category of educational software in which the learner is `put’ into a problem solving situation. A study environment is quite different from traditional course-ware based on a sequence of questions, answers and feedback. The best known example of a study environment is a flight simulator: the learner does not answer questions about how to pilot an aircraft, he learns how to behave like a “real” pilot in a rich flying context. In advanced experimental study environments, the implementation of these agents is based on artificial intelligence techniques. In a more specific note, intelligent study environment’ for study environments include the following:
- A problem solving situation
- A reflective architecture that shows the students what he is doing or even helps him to actively structure his cognitive activities
- One or more agents that assist the learner in his task and monitor his learning.
He further highlighted that a study environment should be designed to be as powerful as dedicated working environments. It must be rich and complex reflecting the essential properties of what has to be learned. The environment must be structured.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Design of the Study
This study adopted a survey design. This design aims at describing of state of affairs as they exist. It is the most used method for collecting information about people’s opinions on education and other social issues. It is against this background that the survey design is deemed appropriate for this study because it will assist the researcher to gather data for the study.
Area of Study
This study was conducted in Nekede, Owerri. It is one of the local government areas in Imo State. Nekede consists of 9 clans, 33 groups, and 193 villages. It covers a total land surface of 2761.76 sq. kilometers, with a total population of 188,605 (NPC, 2006). There are twelve public Federal Polytechnic in the government with the total student population of 13,099.
Population of Study
The population of students in Federal Polytechnic in Nekede, Owerri is 13,099. However for the purpose of this study, the target population is the students. The population is 2101 (1085 male and 1016 females).
Sample and Sampling Technique
A sample size of 210 which is 10% of the studied population will be used for the study. A simple random sampling method will be used study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
Data Presentation
Table 1: Data Presentation on Gender of the Respondents
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary
The study was conducted to investigate the impact of study environment on students’ academic performance in public Federal Polytechnic in Nekede, Owerri. Four specific research questions were raised and corresponding hypotheses formulated to guide the study. The study employed survey design approach. The population of the study was 2101 SS2 students from which the sample of 210 students was derived as respondents of the study. Data for the analysis were obtained using researcher’s designed instrument which was validated by experts and reliability coefficient estimated. Data obtained were analysed using the simple regression analysis. The following findings were arrived at:
- There is a significant relationship between classroom building and students’ academic performance in Nekede, Owerri.
- There is a statistically significant impact of classroom facilities on the academic performance of secretarial students in Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri
- There is a significant impact of class population on students’ academic performance in Nekede, Owerri.
- There is a statistically significant impact of availability of office equipment on the academic performance of secretarial students in Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri.
Conclusion
The essentiality of study environment to the students’ academic performance is enormous. It encourages improved learning and teaching processes, enhances students concentration to studies, create a relax atmosphere for learning, and the generic students academic performance. In other words, conducive learning with adequate classroom facilities, sizable students’ population and adequate availability of office has highly significant implicative impact on students/lecturers proficiency in learning and teaching processes. Hence, availability of necessary learning facilities in the school create better study environment for students to improve their academic performances.
Recommendations
It is therefore based on the conclusion derived from the analysis of the data gathered from the field that the following recommendations were proffered:
- State government should ensure there exist adequate learning facilities are provided in schools to promote effective teaching and learning process of lecturers and students.
- Lecturers should be adequately supervised to ensure the involved students proficiently in the utilization of these facilities. This will enhance students interest and general achievement of students
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