THE INTEGRATION OF INTERNET ACCESS TO THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN BENIN CITY, NIGERIA

The purpose of the research was to determine the factors affecting the integration of internet access to the learning experience of secondary school students in Benin City. Three research questions were raised to guide the study. The population of the study comprised twelve thousand two hundred and six (12,206) Senior Secondary School students in Oredo local government area of Edo state. The sample for the study comprised of two hundred and fifty three (253) Senior Secondary School students. A structured questionnaires titled: Factors affecting the integration of internet access to the learning experience of secondary school students in Edo State was used for data collection. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability statistics was adopted to ascertain the reliability of the instrument which yielded a reliability coefficient of .721. Data were analyzed with mean and standard deviation. The study found out that majority of the students have access to the internet either through personal devices, their parent’s or their sibling’s smart phone. The students also agreed that lack of a computer laboratory, lack of a stable source of power supply, insufficient computers in the computer laboratory where computer Laboratory are available, lack of trained maintenance staff, and cost of maintenance of internet infrastructure among others were factors affecting the integration of internet access to the learning experience of secondary school students in Edo State. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made: that Provisions should be made for well- equipped computer laboratories in secondary schools, Provisions should be made for stable power supply among others.