Influence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy on Academic Performance of Taraba State University Undergraduate Students, Jalingo

The emergence of the computer age has made Information and Communication Technology necessary components of instruction, with the hope of improving students’ level of performance in schools. However, the present situation of undergraduate students shows contradicting realities. This study investigated influence of ICT Literacy on academic performance of undergraduate students in Taraba State University, Jalingo. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population was 16,652 undergraduate students of Taraba State University Jalingo. A sample of 400 students was selected for the study using multi-stage sampling procedure. A fifteen-item instrument tagged “Information and Communication Technology Literacy Achievement Test (ICTLAT), with some items adapted from the existing instruments of John, Izang and Akorede (2017) and United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Survey Instrument for ICT literacy was used for data collection. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions while independent ttest was used to test the null hypothesis at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that students’ ICT Literacy was low and there was a significant mean difference between the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of ICT literate students and the CGPA of ICT non-literate students in favour of the former (t=12.665; P<0.05) implying that there was influence of ICT literacy on students’ academic performance. The study concluded that ICT literacy significantly influences the academic performance of undergraduates at Taraba State University, Jalingo. Recommendations were made that lecturers should engage students in activities which require the use of ICT facilities for instructional delivery and that the ICT Directorate of the university should be actively involved in orientation exercises of matriculating students so as to acquaint them with the facilities at their disposal and how to put them to good use while on campus.