USING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AS A VEHICLE FOR ENHANCING LEARNING AT THE SUNYANI TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

This study was conducted to find out the use of digital technologies by students based on a preliminary study on students’ use of digital technologies. The results of the study revealed that 95.2% of learners use their digital tools for instant messaging and social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Imo, Viber, Snapchat and Twitter instead of learning.

The study sought to find out the best way students can use their various digital technologies to enhance learning, and to further identify the appropriate instructional delivery system that can effectively redirect students’ use of these technologies at the Sunyani Technical University.

This study identified Learning Management System as an instructional delivery mechanism, which when employed could promote the effective use of these technologies for learning.

The research design used was the experimental where a total of 104 respondents were sampled from a population of 346 first year students from seven selected departments at the Sunyani Technical University. The study employed the stratified random sampling technique.

Using data collected by means of survey questionnaire administration, the results showed that learners had developed positive attitudes and the right perceptions toward digital technologies leading to a situation where 82.7% and 84.6% of respondents find digital tools easy to use and very useful respectively during learning. The study also found that the implementation of the intervention in the form a learning management system has helped to redirect the conventional use of digital technologies to a more refined and advanced one for the purposes of enhancing learning and promoting students’ mastery of digital skills.

The study, therefore, recommends that as a matter of policy, academic institutions must charge its instructional deliverers to implement instructional strategies that are more engaging through online platforms such as Learning Management Systems in order to promote personalized learning.