Perception and Use of E-Collaboration by Postgraduate Students in Nigeria Universities

Abstract

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Collaboration in the Nigerian context has focused majorly on traditional collaboration and not even among postgraduate (PG) students. Advancement in technology has ushered many changes, particularly the introduction of numerous e-tools for collaboration. It is based on this that the study examined the perception and use of e-collaboration by postgraduate students in Nigeria Universities. The study adopted a survey design using a questionnaire to collect data from 631 postgraduate students selected across ten universities in South-West Nigeria. Six objectives were developed to guide the study. The results revealed that e-collaboration is perceived by postgraduate students as a collaboration among individuals engaged in a common task using electronic technologies. E-collaboration is used mostly for projects and research and it is impactful in providing opportunities to interact better than face- to-face collaborative activities. The study revealed electronic mail, social media including (Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp), discussion forums and Google documents as the tools most significantly used for e-collaboration. The reasons why respondents use e-collaboration include flexibility, availability, and compatibility with cell phones. The level of awareness about the ethics of e- collaboration is reported to be too low. However, a small percentage were aware that participation in decision-making and the sharing of blame and credit for outcomes is the responsibility of all members. Challenges faced by PG students in their e- collaboration efforts are power failure, lack of trust, and poor internet connection and speed. It is recommended that more awareness of e-collaboration should be promoted and coupled with improved internet connectivity. </span></p></div></div></div>