Lecturers' perception of digital learning platforms for instructional delivery in library and information science education during and after COVID-19 in Cross-River state, Nigeria

Abstract

A Christopher*, BE Ogunjimi, O Akin-Fakorede and A Tella

COVID-19 pandemic has created a new normal in the world. It has changed the pattern of existence in almost all spheres of life, causing fear and uncertainty. This crisis has affected the library, the librarians, lecturers in library school, as well as the way information is delivered to the end users including students of higher institutions of learning. COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented need to apply non-pharmaceutical solutions, and the possibility of online education if the economy and educational sector must continue to survive. Thus this study was carried out to identify lecturers’ perception of digital learning platforms for instructional delivery in library and information science education during and after COVID-19 in Cross-River state, Nigeria. Five research questions were formulated to guide the study. Fifty-Eight (58) copies of a well-structured and validated questionnaire were distributed to lecturers and academic librarians from the university of Calabar and the university of Cross River state, also in Calabar. Fifty-two (89.7%) of these copies of questionnaire were retrieved and found treatable. The data was descriptively analyzed using tables and percentages. The findings of the study revealed that a vast majority (90.4%) of the lecturers are aware of many of the different online digital platforms that can be used for online instructional delivery in library and information education. The study also revealed that the lecturers did confirm their inability to utilize many (47.1%) of the digital platforms, indicating that they do not have a clear understanding of the skill needed to make use of the online platform for teaching, learning and research. Some of the challenges such as poor facilities, lack of skilled manpower, poor infrastructure, and inadequate funding among others were identified as factors confronting the usage of digital learning platform for teaching, learning and research. Conclusively, the study identified the true disposition of the teaching staff in the library schools towards the use of online library and information science education. The study recommended training of lecturers and academic librarians, sponsorship from the parent institutions and funding from the government to make the lecturers more capable of handling different technologies for teaching, learning and research, even beyond the COVID-19 era.