ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF E-LEARNING INSTRUCTIONAL PACKAGES ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
E-Learning is the act of taking a course online using a modem, wireless or cable connection to access academic course materials from a computer, phone or other devices.

Oye, & Laheal (2012), describes E-Learning (EL) as the use of information and communication Technology e.g. Internet, Computer, Mobile Phone, Learning management system (LMS), Television, Radios and others to enhance teaching and learning activities. E-learning is a unifying term used to describe the fields of online learning, web-based training and technology to deliver instructions.

According to Himanshu & Pandey (2013), e-learning focuses on usage of technology in the field of education and learning.

E-learning refers to the use of the advanced technology of information communication in the learning process where the advanced technology comprises of electronic media.

In the current scenario, the rapid growth of information and communication technology has led to the “e” becoming the symbol of this latest age of information technology. The alphabet ‘e’ is used as abbreviation with “e” are currently emerging in every second field, such ass e-learning, e-health, e-commerce, e-banking, e-government and many more.

In the current scenario, where the world is being dominated by globalization, networking and information technology has reached its peak, e-learning plays a vital role in the field of education.
EL has become an increasingly popular learning approach in higher educational institutions due to vast growth of internet technology.

Nowadays E-Learning has a competitive advantage and many universities, colleges of education and other tertiary institutions have implemented it and this has impacts on the student’s performance (Yakaraju 2014).

E-Learning centers on the inter section of education, teaching and learning with ICT it clearly preceded by two other disciplines; educational technology and distance education.

These two disciplines have uniquely contributed to the intensive use of ICT for educational purposes.

E-Learning is also a natural evolution of distance learning, which has taken advantages of latest tools to emerge in the context of technologies for structuring education.

Most electronic learning courses or program are available anytime and anywhere through the world-wide web (www).

According to Abimbola and Abolade (2009), the world-wide web breaks down the walls of time and geographic location, and gives every individual the ability to be a continuing and lifelong learner through accessing the resources of the ‘website via email.
University education and other tertiary education in Nigeria today Is the responsibility of government entrepreneurs, agencies, or groups such as religious bodies, communities, universities and corporate bodies.

Decree No 9 of 1993 prescribes minimum conditions to allow the establishment of universities under certain guidelines determines by the government.
The supervision of these schools is secured by the federal and state ministry of education.

To this end, the goals of teacher education among other are to;
 Help teachers to fit into social life of the community and the society at large and enhance their commitment to national goals.
 Provide teachers with intellectual and professional background adequate for their assignment and make them adaptable to changing situations
 Encourage further the spirit of enquiry and creativity in teachers… (National policy on education 2014).
To make those goals realizable in the Nigerian University system, college of education, institutes of Education, Nigerian teachers institutes among others, both private and public tertiary institutions, course units system is presently being practiced.

The course unit system is particularly interesting in the sense that students have the flexibility of choosing a course of their choice for a particular semester and can be able to carry out further research through the use of ICT whereby research articles, field notes, lecture materials, monographs tutorials and other training materials are deposited repositories.
According to Oye (2011), most libraries in Nigeria higher institutions and secondary schools have audio-visual materials that are rarely utilized as a result incessant power outages and sometimes lack of awareness and self-motivation on the part of the students.

I n some tertiary institutions, their E-Learning does not add any value to the teaching and learning activities of their institutions as a result of some limitation afore mentioned and perhaps they do not investigate the impact of E-learning on student Academic performance.

Much research has not been done on the relationship of E-Learning use and student academic performance. Emmanuel Alayande College of education has an e-learning site designed for teaching learning using module software package, but it is not fully utilized by both students and lecturers.

This is because the computer managed instruction (CMI) established by the school in 2001 to be ICT compliant were merely used for the processing and production of students and Staff identity cards (EACOED Student’s Information Handbook (2015) It is on this view that Abimbola, (1988) cited in Onasanya & Adegbija (2007) observed that in (CMI) the student does not receive any instruction from the computer, rather, students’ instructions are managed using computer.
It has been found that student in higher institutions that engaged in E-learning generally performed better than those in face to face courses (Rodger, 2008 & Holley, 2012) found that student who participate in online/E-learning achieve better grades than students who studies traditional approach.

As a result of this finding the students in EACOED that uses E-Learning may perform better than those who use traditional method that focuses on teachers rather than the students.

A teacher determines what to teach, how to teach and thus less concern about the students that are at the receiving end.
There are various approaches source being put in place to compensate for the problems occasioned by this traditional learning paradigm.

For example online instruction has the potential to provide opportunities for reflective and integrating learning outcomes.

This approach provides the students adaptive personalized e-learning because is a general term used to refer to computer enhanced learning.

It may involves the use of mobile technologies such as personal digital assistant and Mp3/MP4 player, web based teaching materials hypermedia, discussion boards, collaborative software, e-mail, blogs, wikis, text chart, flash video, compass, finder, etcetera, should be use as a pedagogically powerful tool for the consumption and modeling of knowledge Sunil (2017).

Therefore, the survival of Islamic Religious Studies in institutions in the 21st century will increasingly rely on various forms of electronic delivery system and communication facilities that are available in market as requirements for educational flexibility.

Statement of the Problem
This study is informed by the deplorable state of educational system in Nigeria due to the inadequate teaching learning facilities and infrastructures.

Most libraries in Nigerian higher institutions in particular EACOED have audio-visual learning and other sophisticated teaching and learning materials but are rarely utilized as a result of incessant power outages and sometimes lack of awareness on the part of the students.
 
Purpose of the Study
a. To examine the influence of E-learning instructional packages on academic performance of Islamic Religious students.
b. To facilitate the achievement of (formal or informal) e-learning goals.
c. To acknowledge how parental educational background influence the use of E-learning instructional packages to achieve academic performance of the students.
d. To assist the Islamic education students develop interest in good study habit and effective use of E-learning instructional packages to achieve educational goal.