Merit Research Journal of Education and Review

133-138

Authors: J. N. D. Meenyinikor, Ph. D and Odigwe Benjamin

This paper analyses the types of accommodation for millennium development goals achievement available for sustainability in the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria and the extent of students’ satisfaction with them. Literature review was used to construct the questionnaire. The descriptive survey has two research questions and hypotheses. The stratified random sampling technique was used to select 1000 male and female students from the population of 4000. It discovered four types of accommodation, students’ unsatisfaction and a significant difference between male and female students opinion. It concludes that campus accommodation is vital for goals achievement hence recommends the provision of the appropriate types and students’ involvement in decision making on pertinent issues. Keywords: Managing campus accommodation student, goals achievement sustainability

120-125

Authors: Ogbemudia M. I and Alasa M. V

This study investigated the influence of home environment on the academic performance of primary five pupils’ in English Language in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State. Four variables were considered which include parental academic background, parental economic status, parental marital status and parental home location. A sample size of 50 primary five pupils obtained from five public primary schools in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State was used. Five hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Ex-post Facto research design was used for the study. Two instruments were used for data collection such as Home Environmental Factor Questionnaire (HEFQ) and Pupils Achievement Test (PAT) in English Language. The dependent t-test and the analysis of variance ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The result obtained from the study at 0.05 level of significance shows that parental academic backgrounds, parental economic status, parental marital status and parental home location have significant influence on primary five pupils academic performance in English Language hence the null hypotheses were rejected while the alternative hypotheses wee retained. This implies that home environment has significant influence on the academic performance of primary five pupils’ in English Language. These findings were extensively discussed and appropriate recom-mendations were made. Keywords: Home Environment, English Language, Orhionmwon Local Government, Academic Performance, Primary Five Pupils

112-119

Authors: Dr. Ashraf Badawood and Dr. Abdulghffar Qureshi

Since the beginning of the web, and in their evolutionary process, the web has developing been important changes in education to the degree that has become possible to integrate web 1.0 and web 2.0 e-learning tools, in a big part, has benefited in its development because of the huge momentum achieved with the emergence of internet, and the world wide web, possibilities of great opening, facilitating the methods and strategies that allow the emergence of e-learning, and therefore, access to knowledge. Before the emergence of a new paradigm such as web or the semantic web 3.0, it is necessary to study the possibilities that this area offers for the educational environment, particularly for distance education. This research document is about the possibilities opening up in education by developing this environment, which according to its characteristics, is transforming the web into a whole environment for true knowledge management, and may well be completely utilized by the area of education strategies and make the semantic web a facilitator in the educational process. This study presents an overview of the new paradigm of web 3.0 or semantic web from the point of view of their applicability in educational virtual environments, emphasizing the potential of this and the possibilities in could provide education in the new functionality for the management tools used of educational content in web environments. On this issue, Arroyo and others (2008) point out that achieving this goal involves the creation of entire technology architecture, which contemplate the battery technology. Moreover, these authors also highlight the fact that it requires solving various technical and theoretical problems that have prevented the goal, mainly with regard to the creation of ontologies for each domain of knowledge, and the expressive power of these, plus everything about the logical layer and inference engines that enable to extract knowledge content on the web. Keywords: e- learning, distance education, web 3.0, training, semantic web

107-111

Authors: Dr. Yousef Hamad Al-Maini

The Saudi education system is facing a climate of change characterized by an interest in integrating new technology and educational approaches to improve teaching and learning. In this climate, the present paper explores the issues in integrating information technology in learning and teaching EFL in government intermediate schools in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The background to information technology use in Saudi education is introduced, with specific reference to the Watani project for integrating computer and Internet use into educational administration and teaching. Taking an interpretive approach, the author offers insights into the current status and use of Information and communication technology (ICT) facilities in the two intermediate schools. A discrepancy is found between intention and practice. Issues are highlighted that contribute to the failure to exploit fully the potential of ICT: teacher resistance, lack of training, and budgetary or resource constraints. The author concludes that the wider exploitation of information technology in learning English, supported by appropriate training, could benefit both students and teachers and offers recommendations for its implementation. Keywords: Issues, technology, EFL, teaching, Saudi Arabia

097-106

Authors: Mohammed Amanullah, Gaffar Sarwar Zaman, Ayyub Ali Patel and Khalid Mohanna

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of ‘open book-open web’ (OBOW) examinations in comparison to invigilated closed book-pen and paper exams. An OBOW exam was conducted during April 2013, wherein 127 students participated in it. The result obtained in this exam was compared with the invigilated exam taken by the same students previously. The percentage of marks obtained by the students were graded as “A” for 90-100% marks, “B”, “C”, “D” and “F” for 80-89%, 70-79%, 60-69% and 0-60% respectively. Some students were placed under ungraded category (“U” grade), as they faced some technical problems during the exam. Cheating was assessed based upon the time at which the student started taking the exam, the total time taken to complete it and the marks they scored. The results indicated that there was no notable difference in the results between the two types of exams. The number of students scoring “A” grade was almost the same in both the type of exams viz. 36% of all the students scored “A” grade in OBOW as against 38% of the students in the invigilated exam. However the number of students scoring lower grades i.e. “B” to “F” was more in OBOW exams then the invigilated exams. A few cheating cases were observed in the OBOW exam and also in the invigilated exam, which is unavoidable in any circumstance. About 10 students faced technical problems like loss of internet connection, slowing of the internet connection due to traffic congestion in the network, hanging of the user’s computer system. It can be concluded that OBOW exams are better in accessing the student’s ability to understand the subject and reproduce it. Keywords: Open book open web examinations, closed book invigilated examination, online exams, authentic assessment