TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION IN TVET COLLEGES IN A SEMI-URBAN AREA

The study explores the use of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) in TVET (Technical and Vocational Educational Training colleges). TVET colleges caters for students who have left school at a pre secondary phase to pursue a vocational qualification. The pass rate at TVET is below 50%. Further, the lecturers in TVET colleges are product of the TVET system. They lack teaching and learning skills necessary for the TVET colleges. There is collage of challenges in the use of technology in the TVET such as finance resources skilled staff and digital literacy. The study focuses on the nature of the challenges and possible solution by identifying barriers to effective implementation of technologies in TVET colleges. The study was conducted in a semi-rural TVET college. The sample consisted of forty staff and students participated in the survey. A questionnaire was designed to determine students and staff perceptions, attitudes and types of technology-enhanced learning devices that was necessary in TVET. The transformative theory was used as a theoretical framework. A mixed method was used to evaluate the data. However, for the simplicity of the study, a sample of 40 students was chosen for the quantitative data and 20 lecturers were chosen for qualitative data. The quantitative and qualitative questionnaire included close-ended questions regarding the problems faced by the students in case of education in the TVET colleges. The quantitative results indicate staff prefer blended learning and teaching. The result of the research has revealed that there is requirement of adapting to the new technologies, implementation of effective regulatory framework and focus on the quality of the technology. Moreover, information communication technology (ICT) can also provide students with the technical knowledge to deal with issues at their respective job spheres. The qualitative results indicate challengers to technology enhanced learning at TVET colleges are lack of resources, poor infrastructure and implementation of technology. However, staff and students agree TEL will improve the quality of teaching and learning to a large extent. The improvement such as communication between students, staff and admin, self-directed learning and adoption of the community of enquiry model maybe a point of departure for TVET.