ENHANCING THE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) SKILLS OF LECTURERS OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE COURSES IN A COLLEGE OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

In recent times, the use of the tool of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in teaching and research is currently gaining grounds in developing areas like Nigeria. Lecturers at tertiary institutions are being equipped with the necessary ICT skills that will enable them to improve on their three-fold duties of teaching, research and community development. In Colleges of Education where pre-service teachers are being trained, there is need to ensure that the trainers and the trained are not left behind in the knowledge and use of modern technology for teaching and research. A preliminary study carried out by the researcher revealed that Science, Technology and Mathematics lecturers at Federal College of Education(technical), Lagos were not adequately skilled in using internet-based resources to enhance their teaching and research. Most of the lecturers investigated depended on the use of manual hard copies of journals and other materials for teaching and research. The use of Power-Point presentations during workshops and conferences were almost non-existent. These inadequacies were also transferred to the pre service teachers being trained by them in the college. However, with the intervention of the World Bank sponsored Science Technology Education Post Basic (STEP B) program, lecturers in Science Technology and Mathematics had the privilege of being exposed to the use of ICT in teaching. This paper describes the implementation of the STEP-B programme at Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka. Nigeria. Empirical evidence of how this training has impacted on teaching and research as well as the positive rippling effects on the students they teach is hereby highlighted. Suggestions are made as to how other developing nations can enhance the ICT Skills of their teachers.