1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background to the Study
The Internet is a global network of computers linked together over large distances (Daramola, 2004). It was created by the American Military as a means of communication and has been in existence since the 1950’s. Up until the mid to late eighties commercial organizations and educational institutions mainly used the Internet. This was due to high costs. The rapid development of technology has seen improvement in communication links and a lowering of costs. The implication of this is that the Internet is now more widely available to more people.
Since the Internet is now available to a wide sector of the population in the western world many educational establishments have seized on its educational potential (Audu, 2006). The Internet is a valuable source of information for students looking for ideas for projects and assignments especially the final years students who must carry out a compulsory research work to meet the academic requirement/criteria for the award of various degrees in the higher institutions. With over 50 million web sites on the net the chances are any information however obscure can be found (Fatoki, 2004). The only tools required to find this information would be some patience and a decent search engine. It also serves as a useful tool for lecturers in helping to prepare lesson plans as there are a number of sites, especially in America, dedicated to providing educational material (Adegboji & Toyo, 2006). And also to ascertain the correctness of any information obtained during the course of research works.
Furthermore, it acts as a venue for group discussions that are independent of time and location. This group conversation might take many different shapes. A tiny video camera and microphone are used to enable members of the group to see and hear each other during a video conference. Additionally, chat rooms provide a way for group discussions to occur where participants gather in a host area and converse with one another using a keyboard (Daramola, 2004). In order to give suitable assistance throughout their research work, this has especially aided distance learners in communicating with their project supervisors. This serves as the foundation for distant learning.
Incorporating the Internet as a teaching tool for senior research projects has several benefits, but there are also a number of disadvantages. Although the Internet may be a highly intimidating place for first-time users, people can rapidly become accustomed to it with regular use (Igun, 2006). Users sometimes become distracted by a lot of pointless and useless information on the internet due to the abundance of information available. There are no inspections or information censorships on the Internet as it is not owned by anybody. Information is accessible to everyone without restriction, which is a benefit; yet, there is a risk that it may end up in the wrong hands.
Since the Internet is always changing, a large portion of its hardware needs are hardware, which may be costly. This implies that changes to hardware and software are necessary in order to fully benefit from this developing technology. Education has undoubtedly benefited from the introduction of the Internet in more ways than can be listed, particularly for research projects completed by final-year students. However, traditional teaching methods will still be used, and universities will continue to rely heavily on research and development from this medium.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Investigation revealed that research projects are a requirement for Nigerian university undergraduates in their last year of study. In Nigerian postsecondary institutions, project writing is a significant requirement for degree awarding. Every student believes that project writing is crucial to their performance in the classroom.
A student or group of students conducting research on an interest-related issue is the subject of project research writing. The calibre of the work that is turned in within the allotted time is what determines the project's final grade. It is meant to show how well a student can choose, investigate, and extrapolate conclusions from data. The calibre, quantity, and recentness of the materials studied and mentioned greatly influence the research project's quality.
1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Impact of the Internet on Research using the experience of Delta State University as a reference point. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To examine other educational benefits of internet to final year students;
- To examine the impact of internet on student’s final year research; and
- To determine the advantages and disadvantages of internet on students education.
1.4 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- What is the impact of internet on student’s final year research?
- What are the other educational benefits of internet to final year students?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of internet on student’s education?
1.5 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant relationship between internet and student’s final year research.
- H1: There is significant relationship between internet and student’s final year research.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The findings of this study will inform students, particularly those in their last year, on how the internet affects their final year research projects.
Furthermore, this study will add to the corpus of research on the impact of personality traits on students' academic achievement, which will serve as the empirical literature for other studies in this field.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The scope of this research is focused on the impact of internet to the final year students research work in Delta State University (DELSU).
1.8 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, there were some problems encountered which stood as limitations to the research work. Some of the limitations include:
- Time Constraint:
The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Financial Constraint:
Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
- Initial Cooperation Delay from Respondents:
A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.
REFERENCES
Adegboji, O.B., & Toyo, O.D. (2006). The impact of the Internet on research: The experience of Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. Library Philosophy and Practice 8 (2): 1-8
Audu, C. (2006). Internet availability and use by postgraduate students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Global Review of Library & Information Science 2: 34-43 student final year research
Daramola, I.S. (2004). Knowledge and skills possessed by technical collage graduate of building technology trade in Taraba State. Journal League of Researchers in Nigeria 4 (1)
Fatoki, O.C. (2004). Impact of library resources and the Internet on undergraduate students research, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Nigerian Libraries 38 (1):21-33 . student final year research
Igun, S.E. (2006). Use of Internet resources in a Nigerian university community. Global Review of Library and information Science 2: 21-32. student final year research
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