INVESTIGATING THE IMPACTS OF ICT-BASED EXAMINATIONS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS AMONG NIGERIAN HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS
The positive and negative impacts of information and communication technology (ICT) have been felt in all sectors. As regards the education sector, ICT is not only being used to source for educational materials by both students and lecturers, it has also be used to conduct examinations. Thus, the concern of this study is to investigate the impacts of ICT-based examinations on the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills among Nigerian higher education students. The study adopts the quantitative survey research method to collect data from a sample of 350 through purposive technique. Population of the study comprises of undergraduate students of Plateau State University, Bokkos. Results show that while ICT-based examinations limit the capacity of the students to critically think and express themselves on questions asked, data equally indicates that ICT-based examinations do not enable the students to think and write exams that are capable of solving problems. The study concludes that ICT-based examinations are not a good means of measuring the understanding of students. The study, therefore recommends a rethink on the conduct of ICT-based examinations in Nigeria‘s higher institutions.
Keywords: ICT-Based, Examinations, Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, Skills.