EXTENT OF ACQUISITION OF DIGITAL SKILLS BY OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT STUDENTS IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN BENUE STATE

This study investigated the extent of acquisition of digital skills by Office Technology and
Management (OTM) students in tertiary institutions in Benue State. Two research questions
guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested. Survey research design was used. The
population of the study was 515 office technology students drawn from four tertiary institutions
in Benue State. Simple random sampling was used to get a sample size of 51 students for the
study. Instrument used for data collection was a 5- point rating scale structured questionnaire.
Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research
questions while t-test and ANOVA were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.
The overall result showed that the acquisition of these digital skills by OTM students in tertiary
institutions in Benue State was at a moderate extent. The result of the hypotheses test showed
that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of OTM students in universities,
polytechnics and colleges of education on the extent of acquisition of skills in the two digital
applications. Similiary, gender was significant. It was concluded that, OTM students in tertiary
institutions in Benue State did not have enough of the two digital skills applications to meet the
challenges of competitive nature of office work today. It was recommended that tertiary
institutions should try to provide adequate digital facilities for better training of students to
enhance mastery of the needed skills upon graduation.

Digital Skills, Office, Students, Tertiary Institutions, Gender,

View PDF

Bako, D. H. (2015). Business education and information technology: An assessment of business
education students of A.B.U. Zaria. An unpublished project. Department of Vocational
and Technical Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Jorgensen T. (2019). Digital skill where University matters. European University Association
(EUA) retrieved from www.eau.eu.infor@eau.eu.On 17th may, 2020.Edokpolor J.E. and
Chukwu M.E (2017). E-commerce competencies acquired by office technology and
management education students for proficiency in modern business organizations.
Bayero University Journal of Education (BUJE), 6 (1), 24-35, 2017.
Habilla S., (2013), Office technology and management: I.T. career opportunities for its trainees
Harey Publications Coy. Retrieved from https:/ sundayhabila.worldpress.com/
3013/04/23.
Azih, N.(2016).Microsoft access and microsoft excel skills needed by office technology and
management lecturers for quality service delivery. International Journal of Business
and Social Science Vol. 7, (5),
United Nation Educational Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 2018).Critical for job
and social inclusion.Retrieved on 17th may 2021from https://en.unesco.org.>newsdigital-skill-critical-job-inclusion.
Uzochukwu M. (2017). Importance of skill acquisition. Retrieved on 5th august, 2018 from
https:/hilpages.com/business/importance-of-skill-acquisition
Wikipedia (2012). Office management, Retrieved on 17th may, 2021 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_management