ABSTRACT
This research work investigated the effect of GSM on academic performance of tertiary students in two tertiary institutions (Adekunle Ajasin University and Federal University of Technology Akure) in Ondo state, Nigeria. It evaluated how GSM affects the student overall performance and did a deep investigation on the access to GSM by students. The need and importance for GSM in this age and other similar researches was broadly discussed in the literature review. The highlighted problem which is the reason why this research was conducted was the rate at which mobile devices are used among tertiary students in this part of the world and whether this usage have a positive or negative impact on their academic performances. With a well-constructed questionnaire, over 300 responses were gathered and analyzed and it shows that though the usage of GSM is increasing rapidly, it doesn’t significantly affect their academic performances. With this research work, I recommend that aide from the poor user experience of GSM subscribers, the national education curriculum should pay attention to how GSM can be productively used by tertiary students to positively impact their academic performances as with the aid of internet, new ideas and concepts can be gotten easily.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
The invention and development of telecommunication in the world began in the 1830s. The first commercial electrical telegraphy was constructed by Sir Charles Wheatstone and Sir William Forthergill Cooke and they both devise as “improvement to the existing electromagnetic telegraphy” (Robert Laslett, 1999). Samuel Morse on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean independently developed another version of electrical telegraphy that he unsuccessfully demonstrated on 2nd September, 1837. Thereafter, Alfred Vail developed another version of the technology and this was successfully demonstrated on 6th January, 1938 (Marshall 1964). The first transatlantic telegraphy label allowing transatlantic telecommunication for the first time was viewed successfully completed on 27th July, 1866. Alexander Bell invented the conventional telephone in 1876 and the first commercial telephone services were set-up in 1878 and 1879 in both Haven and London (Acitelli 1992, Flecther & Fincahm 1991).
However, Nigeria has not been left out of this race for rapid development of telecommunication, although the journey to success in the milieu had been long and tortuous. The development of telecommunications facilities in Nigeria began in 1886 when a cable connection was established between Lagos and London by the colonial administration (Omagbemi 2004). From the very beginning, it was clear that the introduction of telephone services in the country was not induced by economic or commercial motives. It was not meant to enhance economic growth, but it was originally developed as a tool for colonial subjugation (Jager and Lokman, 1999, Jones, Zenois and Griffiths 2004 and Eynon 2006).
For this reason, by 1893, government offices in Lagos were provided with telephone service, which were later extended to Ilorin and Jebba in the hinterland. A slow but steady process of development in the years that followed led to the gradual formation of the nucleus of national telecommunication networks. However, as the European mercantile activities gained foothold in the country, the first commercial trunk telephone service was established to link Itu and Calabar in 1923.
Between 1946 and 1952, a three channel line carrier system was commissioned between Lagos and Ibadan and was later extended to Oshogbo, Kaduna, Kano, Benin and Enugu. Thus, connecting the colonial office in London with the commercial centers in Nigeria. In those early days, services were primitive and the coordinated pegboard switching system was used. This later progressed to manual switchboards of different sizes, shapes, and capacities until stronger exchanges were installed into the national network at Lagos Island, Ikeja, Ebute Meta, Apapa and Port Harcourt between 1955 and 1960. The telegraphy service also witnessed a parallel development, from telegraph delivery by way of manual coordinated pegboard switching to the use of Morse code for telex switching. As at 1960, a manual telex exchange of sixty subscriber lines were in service in Lagos. All the above efforts were essentially aimed at improving internal administrative telephone services in Nigeria (Olatokun and Opesade 2008, Erinosho 2007, Obanya 2006, Ojokoh and Asaolu 2005).