By Jadas, Abubakar Saleh
The purpose of this study was to develop an instructional system which will serve as a course or instructional guide for the study of practical skills in metalwork technology course of the Nigeria Certificate in Education (Technical) Programme. An instructional system is an arrangement of resources and procedures used to promote learning and it represents a systematic approach to course, instruction or training which ensures that specific objectives are accomplished. The study was premised on the belief that a well developed instructional system for metalwork technology practical course shall promote the study of practical skills and enhance students’ performance. Six research questions and three null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Research and Development (R&D) design was adopted for the study. One hundred and sixty NCE (Technical) metalwork teachers (lecturers and instructors) in 27 institutions covering 21 states spread across the six geo-political zones of the country and 40 metalwork experts working in relevant metalwork industries constituted the population for the study. The entire population of 160 teachers was involved in the study while 18 of the experts were sampled using purposive sampling technique. A structured questionnaire and an interview guide were used as the data collection instruments. The developed questionnaire was trial-tested in five universities offering metalwork technology. Data from the trial-testing were utilized to revise and refine the instrument prior to administration for the final study. The internal consistency of the instrument was established using Cronbach alpha reliability method which yielded an overall reliability coefficient of 0.87 for the entire sections. Mean, standard deviation and frequency/percentage were used to answer five research questions while the sixth one was answered by assembling the results of research questions 1-5 to develop an instructional specifications table as a final draft of the instructional system design/development which was subjected to a process of synthetic validation by professionals in the field. The t-test statistic was used to test the three null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The major findings of the study revealed specific objectives side by side with correspondingly relevant learning experiences and activities and a list of tools, equipment and other instructional facilities deemed necessary for the study of practical skills in metalwork technology course for the NCE (Technical) programme. Similarly, practical demonstration and performance tests were adjudged the most suitable methods of instruction and evaluation for practical lessons. These findings formed the basis for the development of the instructional system. Based on these findings, it was recommended among other things that the instructional system be adopted by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and incorporated in its minimum standards as a course guide for improving quality and achieving uniformity in the teaching and learning of practical skills in metalwork technology course at the NCE (Technical) level in Nigeria.