Digital technology in childhood instruction: friend or foe? Childhood teachers’ perspectives in Minna, Niger State

Abstract

There is a consensus among researchers and educational stakeholders on the potential of technology to enhance meaningful and lifelong learning. Nevertheless, there is an ongoing debate in childhood education on the positive and negative impacts of technology in children's lives. Therefore, this study investigated Digital Technology in Childhood Instruction, Friend or Foe: Childhood Teachers’ perspective in Minna, Niger State. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was adopted for this study. All childhood educators in Minna Metropolis form the population of the study. 93 children teachers were selected as the sample size using simple random sampling. Three research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. The data were collected using structured questionnaires on teacher's perceived usefulness, ease of use and behavioural intention to use digital technology for children instruction. The instrument was pilot tested and using Cronbach Alpha, and the instrument yielded a reliability coefficient of between 0.72, 0.70 and 0.74. The data were analysed using Mean, Standard Deviation and independent t-test. The findings of the study showed that childhood educators perceived digital technology to be useful for children instruction; their perceived ease of use and behavioral intention to use was also positive. The result also indicated that there is no significant difference in the perceived usefulness between male and female teachers. It was concluded that digital technology is perceived as a friend and not a foe among the population. It was recommended among others that digital technologies and enabling environment to be made available for children instruction