Comparative Effects of the Synchronous and the Asynchronous Instructional Approaches Concerning the Students’ Achievements and Interests in Electrical Engineering at the Niger State College of Education

Abstract

Abstract -This study was conducted to determine the comparative effects of synchronous and asynchronous instructional approach on College of Education students’ achievement and interest in Electrical Technology. Quasi-experimental research design was adopted. Two research questions and two hypotheses tested at .05 level of significance guided the study. The population of the study comprised of all the 190 final year students offering Electrical technology as a major course in Colleges of Education under study. The instruments used for data collection were Electrical Technology Cognitive Achievement Test (ETCAT) and Electrical Technology Interest Inventory (ETII). Similarly, lesson plans were developed and subjected to face validity by three experts. The reliability of the instrument was determined using the Pearson Product Moment Correlational Coefficient and was found to be 0.85. The research questions were answered using Mean and Standard Deviation, the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to test the hypotheses. The study revealed that asynchronous instructional approach was more effective in improving students’ achievement and stimulating their interest in learning than the synchronous instructional approach. The study also found out that there was a significant difference in the cognitive achievement of students taught electrical technology with asynchronous instructional approach than those taught with the synchronous instructional approach. However, there was no significant difference between the mean interest scores of students taught electrical technology with asynchronous instructional approach and those taught with the synchronous instructional approach. On the basis of these findings, the study recommends among others that the National Commission for Colleges of Education should develop appropriate framework necessary for encouraging the adoption of innovative e-learning platform such as that of synchronous and asynchronous instruction while the management of the Colleges of Education under study should institutionalize and encourage lecturers to use asynchronous instruction in teaching. Finally, the Lecturers should adopt asynchronous instructional approach in teaching and learning electrical technology in the Colleges of Education under study.