EFFECT OF NETWORK DISCONNECTION ON THE GRADE POINT AVERAGE OF 300 LEVEL LIS STUDENTS IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSIN-MA, KATSINA STATE

Abstract

This study sought to examine how network disconnection impacted the academic performance of 300 level LIS students in Federal University Dutsin-Ma. The one-shot case study, quasi-experimental pretest-posttest research design was used in conducting the study. The study specifically investigated the effect of network disconnection on the respondents grade point average.  The study population comprised two hundred and twenty-six (226) 300 level students in Library and Information Science department of Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State, Nigeria, who registered for the 1^st semester, 2020/2021 academic session. Purposive sampling was used to select 221 out of 226 registered students who sat for the examinations and agreed to participate in the study. An online questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection in the study. The elicited data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Frequency counts and percentages were generated for the demographic variables and the mean score was generated for the GPA of the respondents. Two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. The findings revealed a statistically significant increase in 300 level LIS students GPA in the semester they sat for examinations without internet access (Md = 3.00, n = 221) compared to the semester they sat for examinations with access to internet (Md = 2.91, n = 221), z = -3.150, p = .002, effect size (r = .14). Also, students with no deficiency were found to have higher mean GPA score (3.30) compared to the mean GPA score (2.39) of students with deficiency. Recommendation was made that future research should compare the effect that social media alongside cognitive ability and teacher pedagogy have on academic performance for a particular group of students.