UTILIZATION OF BLENDED AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF BUSINESS EDUCATION IN UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study ascertained the extent to which blended and experiential learning are used for effective teaching and learning of Business Education in Universities in South East, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised of all 85 Business Educators (57 Federal and 28 states Business Educators) in the 4 federal and 4 state universities offering Business Education in south east Nigeria. The entire population was used because the population is of a manageable, therefore census sampling was used. A 14 item statement questionnaire that was validated by three experts was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was determined using test-retest technique and data obtained was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation to determine the reliability of the instrument. A reliability coefficient level of 0.79 was obtained and it was deemed adequate for the study. Data collected from the research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to test the closeness of their responses, while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at a significance level of 0.05. The findings of the study revealed that Business Educators agreed to a high extent that utilization of blended and experiential learning improves the teaching and learning of Business Education in Universities in South East, Nigeria and also that the extent this programme achieves its noble objectives depends to a large extent on the quality and competencies possessed by the Business Educators and the innovative skills they apply to facilitate effective teaching and learning of Business Education. Based on the results, the study recommended among others that Business Educators should adopt compulsory use of blended and experiential learning in the teaching and learning of Business Education; this will help the students in problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, and the application of knowledge in authentic contexts and in the learning of Business Education courses.