Effects of information and communication technology on secondary education: a case study of Thitani girls’ high school, Migwani District, Kitui county, Kenya

Abstract

The 21 st century is considered as the era of information and communication technology revolution. This is because of the way ICT has changed the way people work, interact and socialize. ICT has had an effect in all sectors of the economy. The field of education has not been left out. ICT is today in use in many educational institutions. It is used in both classroom as a tool for study and outside as a tool for research. A lot of research has been done to establish the effect of ICT on teaching and learning in many countries. However such a research has not been carried out to quantify the exact effects of using ICT in teaching and learning in Kenyan secondary schools. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and student performance in secondary education. So far, research has failed to provide a clear consensus on the effect of ICT investments on student’s achievement. This research focuses on the effects of using ICT on education in secondary education in Kenya. The research was carried out in Thitani Girls Secondary School, Migwani district, Kitui County. The researcher identified two sets of respondents – teachers and students. The respondents were given questionnaires, with a questionnaire for each set of the respondents. The research is a case study of a school known as Thitani Girls High school in Kitui County and targeted the students and teachers of the school. The pilot study was carried out in Kyamboo Secondary School of Kitui county which has similar ICT equipment to Thitani Girls Secondary School. Stratified sampling technique and random sampling was used to pick 120 students from the population of 550 students and 10 teachers from the population of 30 teachers. Respondents were picked from the strata using simple random sampling. An analysis of the results was done from the data collected and the findings recorded down. Tables and pie charts were used to present the data. The researcher investigated the attitude of teachers and students towards the use of ICT in education. The researcher found out that the attitude of teachers and students towards ICT use in secondary schools is positive and encouraging. The researcher found out that ICT has positive effects on the overall performance of secondary schools. The researcher therefore recommended the equipping of secondary schools with ICT facilities in the whole republic and advocated for their use in teaching and learning.