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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1  BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Nigerians are confronted with an environment that is rapidly changing and the time spent on non-academic activities has negatively impacted academic performance. This survey investigates the contribution of time spent on the internet by students to academic achievement. The performance of students’ overtime has witnessed a constant depreciation. Many scholars see this as a direct consequence of governments neglect on education; some others say the students should share a large part of the blame. There is no doubt that spending time on the internet helps to improve ones intelligent quotient and ultimately make one conversant with happenings around him/her but doing this to the detriment of one’s studies has done more harm than good in our society. Ezeife 2008 opined that for students to be able to do academically well, they have spent little or no time on the internet. But doing this according to oluwatobi 2013 could as well be detrimental to students’ academic performance. it is no longer news that Nigerian students have so taken to the internet that do spend little or no time in their studies and these have to the decline of education in Nigeria.  In sum, this study may help to develop a conceptual framework for guiding efforts to improve academic performance, as it relates to time used on the internet.

Today’s students are spending less time studying. The fall 2003 survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies found that only 34% of today’s entering freshmen have spent six or more hours per week outside of class on academic-related work (e.g., doing homework, studying) during their senior year in high school. The sample consisted of 276,449 students at 413 of the nation’s 4-year colleges and universities (over one fourth of entering freshmen in the United States), and the data were statistically adjusted to reflect responses of all firsttime, full-time students entering all four-year colleges and universities as freshmen in 2003. In fact, in 1987 when this question was asked of entering freshmen, 47.0% claimed they spent 6 or more hours per week studying outside of class. Since then, the time spent studying outside of class has declined steadily each year (Higher Education Research Institute, 2003).

Another trend that is emerging is the increase in the number of college students who are employed either part time or full time. According to Gose (1998), 39% of college freshmen work 16 or more hours per week, an increase of 4% since 1993. Among all business majors, marketing students typically work even more hours per week than do other students (Smart, Tomkovick, Jones, & Menon, 1999). The 2002 survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute also found that 65.3% of entering freshmen have either “some concern” or “major concerns” about not having enough money to complete their college degrees (Higher Education Research Institute, 2002). This was an increase of almost 1% from 2001 and is likely to increase in the years ahead because of reduced funding for higher education by state legislatures. Although more women (70.9%) were concerned about whether they would have enough funds to complete college than were men (58.3%), all students seemed to be working out of the need to make up for rising tuition and fewer available grants. In summary, the proportion of Nigerian students who are employed either part or full time is likely to increase in the years to come, leaving greater numbers of students with less time for academic work.

1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Students spending less time studying and more time on internet are two trends that all colleges and universities will have to confront. Lowering academic standards by rewarding minimum effort and achievement (expecting less) is certainly a short-term strategy, but one that will have negative long-term consequences. A more productive way to handle these concerns is to conduct empirical research to determine to what extent these trends will negatively impact the academic performance of students and use the findings from these studies to improve our academic programs. The influence that personal variables, such as motivation and ability, have on academic success is well documented, but there is a paucity of research investigating the influence that time students spend on various activities such as studying outside of class and working has on their academic success. One reason for a lack of research in this area may be the common belief among most students and academicians that more time spent studying outside of class positively influences academic performance and that more time spent working negatively influences academic performance. Another, more plausible reason for this lack of research may be the complex nature of these relationships when evaluated in the presence of other variables, such as student ability and motivation. For example, it is likely that time spent studying outside of class will have a differential impact on the academic performance of students who vary in ability. That is, the relationship that ability has with student performance will be stronger for those students who spend more time outside of class studying than for students who spend less time studying.

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.  To investigate whether the time students spent on the internet enhance academic performance of students.

2.  To determine the relationship between time spent studying outside of class and academic performance of students.

3.  To examine the relationship between time spent working and academic performance of students.

1.4    RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.  Does time students spent on the internet enhance academic      performance of students?

2.  Is there relationship between time spent studying outside of class and academic performance of students?

3.  Is there relationship between time spent working and academic performance of students? 

1.5    RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Hypothesis 1

Ho:  There is no relationship between time spent studying outside of class and academic performance of students.

H1:  There is a relationship between time spent studying outside of   class and academic performance of students.

Hypothesis 2

Ho: There is no relationship between time spent working and academic performance of students.

H1:  There is a relationship between time spent working and academic performance of students.

1.6    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is contred on regression analysis of the hours spent on internet and the time spent to the study on academic performance of students.

1.7    LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

There is no study undertaken by a researcher that is perfect. The imperfection of any research is always due to some factors negatively affecting a researcher in the course of carrying out research.  Therefore, time constraint has shown no mercy to the research. The limited time has to be shared among many alternative uses, which includes reading, attending lectures and writing of this research, also distance and its attendant costs of travelling to obtain information which may enhance the writing of this study was a major limitation.

1.8    DEFINITION OF TERMS

Internet: The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide.

Information Technology: Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and internet to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data, or information often in the context of a business or other enterprise.

Academic: It is of relating to a college, academy, school, or other educational institution, especially one for higher education.

Performance: It is an act which is performed or accomplish, a thing done or carried through, an achievement, a deed, a feat, especially an action of an elaborate or public character of a person.