EKITI E-SCHOOL PROGRAMME FOR TECHNOLOGY COMPETENCE

Ekiti e-School Programme for Technological Competence.

This is an initiative by the Ekiti state government in Nigeria to distribute free laptops to school going children. He estimated that the project will cost the government about N6 billion which is roughly 30 million Euros. The target is to procure 100.000 units of computers and supply 95.000 high school students in his province. The extra computers ordered are because they anticipate that the number of students will increase subsequently. Computer usage will activate interest, desire to learn, help students to meet up with world standards and bring back the lost glory of education in his province, the governor intimated.

The state commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Dr Eniola Ajayi, lauded the governor’s initiative in enhancing students’ technological competence. In support of the use of computers in the classroom, Holden and Wedman (1994) argued that apart from opportunities for communication, e-mail and computer conferencing provide better chances for students to interact with each other as they complete assignments. Furthermore, pointing out the significance of computer in education, Kemper (1991) posits that distance education can be enhanced through computer mediated communication. Through the use of computers, connections via the internet with individuals in other parts of the world is made possible, thus lending to an intercultural dimension in to a class that may otherwise not have been there (Bailey and Cotlar, 1994)

 Connection of monitors to a central system for easy management

Although the project sounds great in this era of technological advancement, the governor’s critics argue that, instead of making the project exclusive, by letting every student own a computer, it should be inclusive. That means, the government should provide a computer lab and a library for each school so that every learner, present and the future ones can have access to it. Other arguments are that it is cheaper for schools to handle the computers, and also can be managed at the level of the school better than individual students.  www.http:ekitistate.gov.ng/2012/ekiti-e-school-programme-at-technological. It is much more expensive to acquire software for these computers and at this point, one is not yet informed if the state government will also procure software for their laptops.

 With a computer lab, a central control system could be set up, monitors connected to a few computers so that students can be monitored as they do their work.

With a Mac or running windows 98 or later one can hook up as many monitors as he/she has video cards. These cards can support between 2-4 monitors a piece. In doing this, it will solve the problem of having to buy laptops for students every year. Managing, maintaining and repairing the computers could be less costly for the school.

                                                References

Bailey, E.K., &Colta, M (1994). Teaching via the Internet. Communication Education, 43,184-193

 Ekiti e-School Programme Aimed At Technological Competence. Retrieved December 18, 2012 from www.http:ekitistate.gov.ng/2012/ekiti-e-school-programme-at-technological competence-commissioner/? wpmp-switc

Holden M.C., &Wedman, J.F. (1994). Future issues of computer-mediated communication: The results of a Delhi study. Educational Training, Research and Development, 41(4), 5-24.

http://www.google.be/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1280&bih=656&tbm=isch&tbnid=8nkWhuuBou-skM:&imgrefurl=http://www.futurerayz.com/career-in-networking/&docid=MaXR2qNv0oOQkM&imgurl=http://www.futurerayz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/computer_network2.jpg&w=845&h=568&ei=iBbTUKazKcLM0A http://pc.net/helpcenter/answers/desktop_with_multiple_monitors

Kemper, R. J. (1991).Computer-mediated communication: conquest of time and space or just another technological seduction? Educational Technology, 20-25