Figure 1. Home Page of the Developed E-content in Teaching and Learning of Automobile Lighting System
The purpose of this study was to develop and validate study e-content in teaching and learning of automobile lighting system in technical colleges in Niger State, Nigeria. The study adopted Research and Development (R&D) design. The researchers modified the 10 steps of R&D model to 5 steps cycle which fits the present study. The five modified phases include the development of e-content: Phase I: determination of the contents of e-content teaching and learning package, determination of the important e-content skills, knowledge and attitude needed by students in automobile lighting system, development of a draft e-content teaching and learning package based on the findings from Phase II, validation of e-content and revision of the draft e-content teaching and learning package based on feedback from Phase IV. The e-content package was produced on HTML 5. The development and validation of the package was conducted using requirement specification as the basis of reference. The validation activities involved Alpha and Beta tests. The reliability coefficient of the instrument yielded 0.86 using Cronbach alpha technique; two research questions were analyzed using mean values and standard deviation. At the end of the validation, e-content teaching and learning package was found to perform all the tasks listed in the requirement specification.
The standpoint for the vocational institutions in Nigeria is the Technical Colleges (TC). At the TC, the training in Motor Vehicle Mechanic (MVM) is carried out from TC I to III. The cardinal objective of the MVM at the TC is to prepare students to acquire appropriate skills and knowledge for employment in the world work. In accordance with the stated objective, the curriculum place emphasis among other field studies, which is a guided discovery. At the TC, Auto-mechanics is divided into the following departments; engine maintenance and refurbishing, and auto-electricity. The auto-electricity is further divided into the following sensors, battery, ignition, charging, starting and the lighting system. The automobile lighting system syllabus consists of the headlights, filament lamps, headlight alignment, lighting circuits, direction indicators (flashing lights), lighting faults, and their remedies. This study is intended to provide the MVM course to meet the needs of the society through relevance and functionality in its content, application, process, and method of teaching.
The method employed for successful teaching and learning is an issue of concern to educators because the methods of teaching play an important role in thrilling the students' creative and critical thinking by persuading students' teamwork in viewing an event or problem from many standpoints (Eison, 2010). These can only be reached when a proper instructional method that would enable MVM practitioners to get hold of both cognitive and psychomotor competencies in the automobiles.
Today, the complexity in the automobile industry is growing exponentially in response to the necessity for technologies to pull off low pollutant discharge and to match and maintain the trail of its development via the Information and Communication Technology (ICT). ICT is a term that consist of Information Technology (IT) and Communication Technology (CT). Mustapha, Idris, Abubakar, and Musa (2016) defined the terms IT and CT respectively, as a tool to process, manipulate, and manage information, while the latter is everything linked with the utilization of tools to process and convey data from one gadget to another. Okoro and Ekpo (2016) stated that the application of ICTs in education is divided into two broad categories, namely ICTs in education and ICTs for education. The former deals with the implementation of the general components of ICTs in the teaching-learning process while the latter involves the development of ICT for teaching-learning purposes (Mustapha et al., 2016).
The introduction of ICT into the automobile technology has brought a noteworthy revolution in automobile students in the organization of instructions, tests, and exams. As such, the applications of ICTs in the school depend on the teacher (Nyika, 2015). On the other hand, mastering and utilizing ICT skills towards creating an improved teaching and learning environment is of utmost importance to teachers in creating new learning culture (Minnaar, 2013). As a result, Aliyu (2018) stated that to address the inadequacy of curriculum aligned contents for students and teachers in secondary schools and tertiary institutions in Nigeria to be resourceful, stimulated, and creative with the better need for self-learning than relying on handbook and syllabi, the e-content platform is needed.
E-content means content in the electronic form. Eremias and Subash (2013) defined e-content as digital images and text premeditated for put on view on web pages. Similarly, Jethro, Grace, and Thomas (2012) viewed it as any digitalized content that can smooth the progress of learning process and/or outcome. Nachimuthu (2012) viewed it as a blending of animation with audio, video, images, and text. Four different channels are needed for the possession of these contents; these include the procurement of materials, use of freely available content on the internet, invention of material, and swap of available contents in a network with other institutions of higher education (Eremias & Subash, 2013). According to Mishra, Patel, and Doshi (2017), e-content learning materials focused on cognitive, emotional behavioural, and contextual perspective of both the teacher and student. The future teacher will understand that he or she is changing from a provider of facts to one that facilitates a learning environment and the student will be placed in the centre instead of the educator. As advocated by Akinleye (2010), information does not become knowledge automatically until learners have been actively involved in its processing. In developing a knowledge society, integrating ICT (e-content) at all levels of education is essential.
Aligning the significant demands and preferences of students for higher learning achievement of teachers and students in teaching and learning of automobile lighting system in Niger State technical colleges, developing and validating the methodology for teaching and learning of automobile lighting system in technical colleges in Niger State will entail a re-think in the methodology used in teaching automobile trade. Such a methodology should incorporate the use of e-content.
In teaching automobile lighting system via the e-content, the processes of giving and taking, talking and listening, describing and witnessing, help expand horizons and foster common understanding among the students to gain knowledge when appropriate information is presented and processed.
Despite the fundamental function played by Technical Vocational, Education and Training (TVET), the method of teaching it is to a certain extent not highly effective in most of the technical colleges in Nigeria to give the student-teachers the prospect to think autonomously and conceptualize the strong point of mind of the subject matter due to inadequate and high excellence instructional strategy in the classroom. For this reason, the method used by teachers in sharing information with students is an aspect influencing learning at all levels of the education system (Odundo & Gunga, 2013; Dorgu, 2015). This is because today's society is becoming dependent on digitalized devices and as such become inevitable for students who will live and work in the digital world (Odundo & Gunga, 2013).
As a result of the above-mentioned problems, (Semenov et al., 2005) grieved over that the traditional structures and methods of teaching/ learning come into sight, less responsive to the challenges of the turbulent times because the instructional delivery system fails to effectively keep pace with the rapid skills obsolesce, especially in the automobile industry. Hence, this necessitates a change in the instructional methods used in teaching and learning automobile lighting system in technical colleges in Niger State so as to enable the products of these colleges to obtain an incorporated knowledge of affective, cognitive, and psychomotor skills required in the work.
The aim of this study is to develop and validate e-content for teaching and learning of automobile lighting system in technical colleges in Niger State.
Distinctively, the study seeks to identify the contents of the e-content and the requirement specifications of econtent for teaching and learning of automobile lighting system.
The study adopted the Research and Development (R & D) research design method. This was considered suitable because the study deals with the interaction between research and the production as well as evaluation of a new product, which are systematically field-tested, evaluated, and refined until they meet specified criteria of effectiveness, quality, or similar standards (Gall, Gall, Borg, & Mendel, 2007). The researchers modified the 10 steps of R & D model to five steps cycle. The five modified phases include Phase I: Determination of the contents of e-content teaching and learning package to be developed; this involved the collection of information such as determination of objectives, content, delivery system, and evaluation activities. Phase II: Determination of the important e-content skills, knowledge, and attitude needed by students in automobile lighting system. Phase III: Development of a draft e-content teaching and learning package based on the findings from Phase II. Phase IV: Validation of e-content and Phase V: Revision of the draft e-content teaching and learning package based on feedback from Phase IV. The study was conducted in the technical colleges in Niger State. A Structured Questionnaire (SQ) was developed by the researcher in-line with the research design and objectives of the study. Each set of an item contained a response scale as follows:
Three validates validated the developed package in terms of animations, functionality, graphical interface, language, navigation, packaging and typography, and emphasis on key concepts, simplicity and its suitability for instruction. Their suggestions and recommendations were used for modifying the package. For example, the recommendations made were to add an administrative page as well as comment box. This was carefully considered very vital in preparing the final draft of the instrument (See Figure 1). To establish the reliability of the instrument, Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the e-content and the reliability coefficient was found to be 0.86. The e-content was developed by the researcher using the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML 5). HTML 5 was considered appropriate because it creates more platform independent applications which can run across browsers eliminating the need for testing on multiple browsers (Abhijit, 2009).
The procedures adopted during the development of automobile lighting system e-content teaching and learning instructional package are:
Figure 1. Home Page of the Developed E-content in Teaching and Learning of Automobile Lighting System
What are the contents of the e-content in teaching and learning of automobile lighting system?
The result in Table 1 revealed that five items conformed to highly required (HR); eleven items conformed with to an averagely required (AR); while no item conformed to slightly required (SR) and not required (NR). Thus, this gives the impetus to conclude that the contents of the e-content in teaching and learning of automobile lighting system are averagely required (AR).
Table 1. Mean Response of the Respondents on the Contents of E-content in Teaching and Learning of Automobile Lighting System
What are the required specifications of e-content for teaching and learning of automobile lighting system?
The result in Table 2 revealed that seven items conformed to a great extent (GE); twelve items conformed to an extent (TAE); while only one item conformed to a little extent (ALE), and no item conformed to not at all (NAA). Therefore, this gives the impetus to conclude that to an extent, the requirement specifications of e-content for teaching and learning of automobile lighting system is satisfactory.
Table 2. Mean Response of the Respondents on the Required Specifications of E-content for Teaching and Learning of Automobile Lighting System
The data presented in Table 1 provided answers to research question 1. It revealed that the sixteen contents of the e-content in teaching and learning of automobile lighting system were averagely required. This finding concurs with Njedeka, Isiaka, and Bashiru’s (2016) result, which revealed that comments received from experts confirmed that the content, authoring tools, colour used, navigation mode, structure, and interactivity used in the development and validation of web-based instructional package for teaching purpose were relevant and it was of good quality for intended users. In addition, Lakonpol, Ruangsuwan, and Terdtoon (2015) revealed that webbased learning environment model enhanced cognitive skills for students.
The results from Table 2 indicated that all the Auto- Mechanic teachers at the technical colleges that were used as research assistants on which the Alpha and Beta test were conducted equally agreed that the e-content performed all the tasks contained in the requirement specifications in the actual classroom. This finding agrees with Adebayo and Abdulhamid (2014) that the use of econtent in teaching and learning simplifies the entire testing cycle including among others archiving, evaluation, generation, and presentation of learning experience.
The findings of the study revealed that each stage of e-content is recognized to have a high degree of validity for the package in the automobile lighting system. The result also indicated that the e-content performed all the tasks contained in the requirement specifications to ful-fill the requirement at and outside the developer's site when the proposed groups of students were made to use it.
Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made: