Effect of Computer-Assisted Instruction on Students’ Academic Achievement and Retention of Auto-mechanics Technology in Technical Colleges

Abstract

The poor achievement of students in technical colleges in Nigeria has been a major concern to researchers. The use of effective instructional method in technical colleges will enhance students' academic achievement. This demands that teachers in technical colleges would adopt instructional methods that would improve the achievement of students in auto-mechanics technology in technical colleges. The study investigated the effect of computer-assisted instruction on students' academic achievement and retention in auto-mechanics in technical colleges. Three research questions were answered and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Quasi-experimental design was used for the study. Population of the study was 128 National Technical Certificate (NTC) year 1 Auto-Mechanics students in state owned technical colleges. Purposive sampling technique was used to draw four schools out of the six technical colleges with 101 students for the study. Instruments for data collection were Auto-Mechanics Achievement Test (AMAT). The instrument was face and content validated by three experts. Test–retest method was used to establish its reliability and was calculated using Pearson product moment correlation which yielded a correlation coefficient value of 0.81. Treatment procedure of computer–assisted instruction (CAI) and demonstration teaching method for the study was carried out. Arithmetic mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses. Findings of the study revealed that students taught auto-mechanics using CAI achieved significantly higher and retained knowledge better than those taught using demonstration teaching method. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that CAI positively affects students' academic accomplishment and retention ability in the subject auto-mechanics. It was found more compelling, effective, rewarding and valuable in teaching of auto mechanics at technical colleges. Consequently, it was recommended among others that technical teachers should use CAI in teaching auto-mechanics in order to enhance students' academic achievement and retentionability. Therefore, auto-mechanics teachers should ensure constant and effective utilization of CAI for instruction in trade subjects/courses in technical colleges to improve students' achievement and knowledge retention.e