Availability and Utilization of ICT Facilities in Teaching and Learning of Agricultural Sciences at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania

Abstract

This study examined the availability and utilization of ICT facilities in teaching and learning of agricultural sciences at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA). The study adopted a descriptive survey design and the population of the study comprised of 65 instructors from the College of Agriculture (CoA), 4 Heads of Department and the Head of ICT services at the university. A list of instructors with a minimum of ten or more years in teaching from the CoA was used to develop a sampling frame and all research respondents were purposively selected. The interview schedule and questionnaire with a reliability of 0.89 were employed as means of data collection. Quantitative data was analyzed descriptively while qualitative data were analyzed based on themes. The study revealed that most of the ICT facilities were found to be available at the university but they were inadequate to accommodate the number of instructors present at the respective departments. The study further revealed that the extent of utilization was moderate with some of the ICT facilities being over utilized while others were being underutilized. Therefore, it is recommended that the university administration should improve the ICT infrastructure at the departmental level, offer professional development programs that focus on enhancing instructors' technological proficiency and advocate for sufficient resource allocation at both the university and departmental levels to meet the growing demands of instructors and students.