Computer and Internet Facilities Use in Distance Education: A Survey of Sandwich Students of University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

Education is an agent of transformation and change. Many people who cannot afford traditional educational delivery have opted for distance education.Distance education emphasizes electronic communications and use of ICT facilities, but few studies have been conducted to investigate the level of use of computer and Internet facilities by sandwich students in Nigerian universities. Sandwich students take an extra year to complete their degrees. The extra year is spent gaining relevant work experience.This study investigates the extent to which the sandwich students make use of computer and Internet facilities for their programme using the University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria, as a case study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. 280 sandwich students who constituted the sample size were randomly selected from the 200, 300, and 400 levels in 2007. Out of the 280 copies of the questionnaire administered, 200 copies were retrieved and analysed, giving a response rate of 71.4%. The findings reveal that 50% of the respondents could not make use of computer and Internet facilities on their own due to lack of computing and searching skills. The study also reveals that the lecturers do not give the students assignments to encourage their use of computer and Internet facilities. Recommendations were offered to improve the use of computer and Internet facilities by the students