Computer utilization in the management, operation and instruction of state universities and colleges in the Province of Iloilo: Its implications to educational management

Abstract

The study attempted to determine the personal characteristics in terms of age, gender, civil status, highest educational attainment, type of school and school location; extent of computer utilization in the management functions such planning, organizing, leading and controlling; teaching activities such as syllabus construction, lecture preparation, sourcing references, actual teaching, grade computing and student advising, and work functions namely: collection of data, preparation of data, establishment of activities, implementation of activities and evaluation of activities; significant differences in the extent of computer utilization of the respondent administrators, faculty and staff when grouped according to personal characteristics, respectively and compare the amount of time spent before and during the time they used computers. The descriptive-survey research made use of the research-made instrument in gathering the data for the extent of computer utilization in the management, operation and instruction of state universities and colleges in Iloilo province. There were 360 respondents. The data gathered were encoded and stored using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) and analyzed using the mean, Z-test and One-way ANOVA. All inferential statistics were set at 0.05 alpha levels.

The study revealed mostly of the administrator and faculty were above 40 years old and below, male, married, with master’s degree, employed at state college and connected with schools located at urban area. On contrary mostly of the staff were above 40 years old and below, female, married, with bachelor’s degree, connected with state college and employed at school in urban area. The study revealed that the administrator’s and staffs extent of computer utilization in all management and work activities, respectively was high. On the other hand, faculty revealed an over all mean of moderate extent. A high extent was revealed in syllabus construction, sourcing references and grade computing but moderate extent in lecture preparation, actual teaching and student advising. Mostly of the administrators and staff revealed high extent of computer utilization in all management functions and work activities, respectively when grouped according to personal characteristics. On the other hand, mostly of the faculty revealed high extent of computer utilization in syllabus construction, lecture preparation, sourcing references and grade computing and moderate in actual teaching and student advising when grouped according to personal characteristics.

There is no significant difference on the extent of computer utilization of administrators in all management activities when grouped as to age, gender, civil status, highest educational attainment. However, there is a significant difference in the extent of computer utilization in planning, organizing, controlling but there is no significant difference in leading function when grouped as to type of school. There is significant difference in the extent of computer utilization in all management functions when grouped as school location.

There is significant difference in the grade computing activity of faculty but no significant difference in all other teaching activities when grouped as to age. There is no significant difference in all teaching activities of faculty when grouped as to gender and highest educational attainment. There is significant difference in the lecture preparation and grade computing of faculty but no significant difference in all other teaching activities when grouped as to civil status and type of school. There is significant difference in the syllabus construction, lecture preparation and grade computing of faculty but no significant difference on actual teaching, sourcing and student advising when grouped as to school location.

There is significant difference in the amount of time spent by the administrator, faculty and staff in the management, teaching and work activities, respectively before and during the time they used computer.

With the above findings and conclusions, some recommendations were born for the improvement of the quality and quantity of output management, teaching-learning process and operations activities. The allotment of higher budget on capital outlay in order to provide adequate and updated computers and other information and communication technology facilities is in dire need; appropriate and rigorous trainings should be provided; linkage with other offices both in national and international levels in order to source out more monetary and non-monetary donations; infusion of computer technology in the teaching methods and processes and encouraged extensive use of computer in daily operations activities. And finally, management and information systems of state universities and colleges should be thoroughly evaluated and upgraded to provide local area network that would facilitate faster and easy access of accurate, timely, and relevant information for decision and policy making in school systems.