Speaker
Description
Olayanju, T. A.
Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka Lagos Nigeria
taiwo.olayanju@fcetakoka.edu.ng
Track: AI, Emerging Technologies and Future Learning
As the global landscape of the world-of-work increasingly changes towards digital terrain, there are growing concerns to prepare science graduates towards meaningful contribution to the labour market. This study therefore examined digital learning gaps and future-ready competency needs of science graduates; with a view to provide evidence-based recommendations for smart-campus transformation initiatives in African higher education. The research design was a descriptive survey. The sample of this study was made up of 62 Colleges of Education science graduates who completed their National Certificate in Education programme within the last five years. A structured questionnaire with Cronbach alpha of 0.79 was used to collect data. The data collected were analysed using mean, standard deviation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The major learning gaps identified by these graduates were: hands-on incompetence and struggling to transfer theoretical knowledge acquired in school to real industry or research workflows. Premised on these findings, it is therefore recommended that higher institutions provide Smart-campus experiences that will offer practical data literacy and modern digital tools, to prepare students for the world-of-work. To consolidate this, students should be exposed to digital internships, mentorships, and project-based learning with real datasets.