Influence of ICT Resources Utilization on Social Information Sharing among Undergraduates in Federal University Oye Ekiti, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the influence of ICT resource utilization on social information sharing among undergraduates at Federal University Oye Ekiti, Nigeria. It employed the descriptive survey design. The population comprises all undergraduates in the faculty of education at Federal University Oye Ekiti. A total of 200 students volunteered to participate in this study using a simple random sampling technique. The main instrument for data collection was a semi-structured question which was validated with a Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.7 and above. Data collected from respondents was analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequency, table, mean, and standard deviation. The formulated hypothesis was analyzed with Spearman rank regression analysis. Results indicated a generally high extent of social information-sharing practices among undergraduates in the selected university with an average mean score of 3.4 on a scale of 4 points. Findings further indicated that computers (mean=3.0, RII=0.9) and Google Meet (mean=3.0, RII=0.9) were the most commonly used among the ICT resources used by undergraduates. Others include smartphones (mean = 2.9, RII = 0.9), Google (mean = 2.6, RII = 0.8), software programs (mean = 2.6, RII= 0.8), emails (mean = 2.6, RII= 0.8), projectors (mean = 2.2, RII= 0.7), interactive online teaching platforms (mean = 2.2, RII= 0.7) and Slack (mean = 2.1, RII= 0.7). the study revealed a statistically significant influence of ICT resource utilization and social information-sharing practices among undergraduates in the selected university (F=48.817, p<0.05). The study concluded that the use of ICT resources should be encouraged by the university authority to move the institution to the next level through massive investment in digital educational transformation which has the potential to boost the ranking of the university among its contemporaries across the globe.