Volume Two - Academic Conferences

Psycho-Social Predictors of Students With Disabilities’
eLearning: Usage at the Federal College of Education
(Special), Nigeria
Adelua Olajide Olawole and Maruff Akinwale Oladejo
Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, Nigeria
adeluaolajide@yahoo.com
maruvoladejo@rocketmail.com
Abstract: There has been growing interest in the education of students with disabilities in the recent times. This
is contingent on the fact that students with disabilities constitute distinct population whose educational needs are
different from those students without disabilities. Also, the application and usage of Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) as indispensable force to aid teaching-learning processes has equally been
on the increase. Instructional use of information and communication technologies carries a peculiar importance
as they help in meeting the instructional needs of students with disabilities who cannot follow the requirements of
normal educational processes. Thus, information and communication technologies have become frequently used
devices in modern instructional settings by all stakeholders, students with disabilities inclusive. These
technologies regulate, direct, guide and shape students with disabilities’ academic activities and social
interactions. Consequently, the increased use of these technologies and the recent developments in adaptive
software and hardware have enabled students with disabilities to participate in, and do things that used to be
difficult or impossible for them. Several studies have been carried out on eLearning usage, but not much on
students with disabilities in Nigeria. This study therefore, provided a causal explanation of students with
disabilities’ eLearning usage through the analysis of some psycho-social variables such as gender, nature of
disability, computer self-efficacy, technological confidence and attitude towards technology. The study adopted
descriptive research design of the “ex-post facto” in nature. The Federal College of Education (Special), Nigeria
was purposively selected. Two hundred and fifty participants were selected through simple random sampling
technique. Three validated self-designed instruments namely Students’ Computer Self Efficacy Scale (r =0.75),
Attitudes towards Technology Questionnaire (r =0.86), Students’ Technological Confidence Scale (r =0.75) were
used to collect data. Two research questions and hypotheses each were answered and tested to pilot the study.
Regression analysis and t-test were used for data analysis. The five factors combined accounted for 17% of the
total variance in students with disabilities’ eLearning usage. The order of magnitude in terms of relative
contributions were computer self-efficacy (β=.048), technological confidence (β=.041), attitude towards
technology (β=.038), gender (β=.025) and nature of disability (β=.018). Furthermore, there were significant
differences between nature of disability (t=2.29, df= 248, P