HARNESSING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY FOR QUALITY EDUCATION AND SCHOOL LEADERSHIP IN ANAMBRA STATE COLLEGES OF EDUCATION

Abstract

This article focused on harnessing digital technology for quality education and school leadership in Anambra state colleges of education. The study was guided by two research questions and two research hypotheses. It adopted the descriptive survey design. 4,012 and 2,214 teaching staff in the two colleges of education in the state (federal college of education, Umunze and Nwafor Orizu college of education, Nsugbe formed he population of the study. 600 teaching staff, (300 from each of the colleges of education) formed the sample of the study and were randomly selected through simple random sampling. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Harnessing Digital Technology for Quality Education and School Leadership Questionnaire” (HDTQESLQ). The instrument for data collection was validated by 3 experts. The reliability was established using 15 teaching staff from each of the colleges of education who were not selected as sample. The test-retest technique was used for the process. Cronbach Alpha technique was used to compute the result which yielded reliability coefficient values of 0.93 and 0.89 with a general index of  0.91 and confirms that the instrument reliable.  Mean and standard deviation were used as data analysis instrument while t-test was used to test the hypothesis at .05 level of significance. Findings show that computer, internet connectivity, teachers use of smart phones, interactive television, use of intranet/extranet, video tape and artificial intelligence can improve quality education in Anambra state colleges of education. it was also found that with the use of computers, internet connection, artificial intelligence, communication platforms, video conferencing and electronic learning resources, could improve school leadership. The study recommended among all that both lecturer are school leaders need to be exposed on training and retraining programs to be informed on how to utilize these technologies for academic and administrative purposes.