It is no longer hearsay that we live in the 21st Century technological revolutionized society; we have everything right under our watchful eyes to corroborate the fact. Ranging from the field of medical sciences to the domains of education, we cannot but state here that technology has taken its toll in ensuring a dominantly redefined society.
There is hardly any facet of modern society that has not been hit by the waves of technology. Computers have taken over their operations in advancing the course of modern society. More importantly in the area of Education, the impacts of the computer cannot be overemphasized.
In recent times, ICTs have set parameters for a new revolution in the field of Education. This technology has greatly expanded the frontiers of education and helped ensure the management of teaching-learning processes. Teaching-Learning process wouldn’t have been any better without the unparalleled input of computer technology.
The responses of the Schools to the Computer Based Testing have changed in the recent times. The response has been very woeful before the year 2012 AD, but within the past two years, technology responses of the school have been improving due to the following reasons.
- Re-Orientation of Populace about ICT Revolutions
It is no longer news that ICT has come to stay in this present stage of the world and the world is now a global village. People’s attitude also to the revolutions that’s taking place in ICT has enabled the schools also to respond in no small way to the trend that has affected the way things are in educational sector. The response of the schools are very encouraging due to the fact that anybody left behind in the trend will be affected in no small ways. Relevance of their institution too will be affected if they didn’t in into the trend of ICT. This has increased their response to the technological trend.
- Affordability of ICT Equipment
ICT equipment availability and affordability has also Led to a more positive response from schools to the trend in CBT. They are more CBT equipment now than they were in the last 5 years; we have ICT/CBT equipment like Computers, I-pads, Phones, Notebooks etc. Not only that they are readily available alone but also cheaper. The price has dropped drastically that has enabled a lot of people to be able to afford it. The school can now have more ICT materials which allow them to embrace CBT to the fullest.
- Conduction of Foreign Examination with CBT Platforms
Foreign examinations are now conducted with CBT platforms, this development has enabled all educational institutions including schools to embrace the CBT and it is now like wild-fire that spread to all nooks and crannies of the educational sector including schools. TOEFL, IELTS, GRE, GMAT etc are examples of foreign examinations that require the use of CBT to attempt.
- Introduction of ICT as a Subject in WAEC & NECO Examination
Sequel to the recent development in the ICT and involvement of the country in the wave of imbibing the e-revolution that has come to stay in the country; The West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) have introduced Computer as one of the subjects in the final examination. This has left school with no choice than to embrace the CBT and try to upgrade their facilities to be able to accommodate the latest technology. The latest improvement in technology has enabled school to adapt and adjust to the use of CBT in conducting their examination.
- Introduction of CBT as the Examination Platform for JAMB’s UTME Exam
In 2012, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) introduced the CBT as a platform that the Board will be using to administer their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). This development has changed the view of the populace especially the schools to the reality of the fact that they need to teach their students how to answer CBT examination. Some schools have also looked for Computer Added Learning material like Software to train the students about how the platform will look like.
A good example of the software is the Avalanche PK 2014 CBT software that has more than 20,000 questions and answers spanning through majority of their subject since 1978 till date. The software gives the students the similar platform similar to the one they will encounter in their real JAMB examination. The response of the schools to the CBT platform of avalanche has been very applauding since the interface is very interactive and attractive.
With the full implementation of CBT as a compulsory platform to test students writing JAMB’s UTME, the response is tending towards increasing till we have it as part of day-to-day activity and it becomes part of the day.
