AN ANALYSIS OF E-READINESS OF A HIGHER INSTITUTION (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
The world of today has grown deep with the use of internet; making almost everything more easily; the place of learning and teaching and the business environment has improved over the years. Internet has contributed so much in our societies today. Consider the case study for the purpose of this research work. We shall investigate the impact of E-readiness on higher institution using the national open university of Nigeria, Benin centre as a case study.
The increasing use of Internet has experienced an explosion over the years and is responsible for enormous changes in the pedagogies of teaching leading to a more interactive learning process. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) came as a result of advancement in internet and is considered as a new communication technology now in use to improve and replace the existing old technologies of information delivery and exchange. They have become increasingly significant as tools to accelerate social, economic and educational development. For instance, the topic of e – readiness is not a phenomenon that links the use of ICT and access to the Internet alone, but also to usage and benefits of ICT as observed by Fuchs and Horak (2006).
United national education and cultural organization of Nigeria UNESCO (2002); pinpoints that ICTs are seen as pedals of educational system and change. However, the significant role of ICT as strategies for development is essential to the running of universities in developed and developing economies as well. In the same vein, several efforts at institutionalizing ICT for development in national Open University of Nigeria, Benin centre have been geared towards public institutions with less emphasis on private institutions because of the nature of ownership and policy. This could be argued from the standpoint that the resources required for institutionalizing ICT in our various institutions are available if and only if it can be well harnessed. According to Colle (2004), e-readiness refers to relevant content, human resources, practical research, training capacity couple with the ability to sustain these utilities in the process of assessing these indicators (resources).
It is particularly noticeable in the definition given by Colle (2004) which posited that e-readiness is a concept usually applied to nations and it refers to a nation’s inventory of ICT resources for operating in a modern information society. He further posited that e –readiness of a nation among others includes; service provider, networking facilities, favorable ICT policies, appropriate human resources and telecommunications competition e.t.c It is pertinent that Universities all over the world have a very critical role to play in every country’s development effort with theoretical capacities to be the living force that could spearhead the use of internet in their respective countries and even outside their national borders. Any initiatives being undertaking by the national government as a whole to improve ICTs that is by discovering the capacity of the universities.
