Preparedness and attitude of students towards conduct of senior school certificate examination in electronic mode in Niger State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the preparedness and attitude of students towards conduct of Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in electronic mode in Niger State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted and the sample for the study consisted of 600 final year students from 150 (75 public and 75 private) secondary schools in Niger State. A combination of purposive, proportionate stratified sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to select respondents for this study. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire designed by the researchers and validated by two computer-based test (CBT) experts among others. The questionnaire was divided into section A, B and C and used to collect data on demographic profiles, attitude and preparedness respectively. Using Cronbach alpha formula, the reliability coefficients of the questionnaire for sections B and C were found to be 0.78 and 0.80 respectively. The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and independent sample t-test statistics. Two research questions were answered and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The results revealed that students have positive attitude and are prepared for conduct of SSCE in electronic mode. However, a significant difference exists in favour of students in private schools. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended among others that students should be encouraged and taught how to make judicious use of their smart phones for more of educative purpose rather than entertainment, as smart phones have been discovered to be a vital tool for edutainment. This will go a long way helping students maintain their preparedness for electronic examinations.