Adoption of Smart Classroom Technologies for Effective Instructional Delivery in Public Senior Secondary Schools in Port Harcourt Metropolis: The Role of Fund Availability, Teacher Preparedness, and Policy Support

Abstarct The study examined the adoption of smart classroom technologies for effective instructional delivery in public senior secondary schools in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State, with specific focus on fund availability, teacher preparedness, and policy formation support. Three research questions were posed, and three null hypotheses were tested to guide the study. The study was anchored on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) propounded by Davis (1989). The descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population of the study comprised 1,866 teachers in public senior secondary schools in Port Harcourt Metropolis, drawn from 52 public senior secondary schools in Port Harcourt Local Government Area and Obio-Akpor Local Government Area. Using the Taro Yamane (1967) formula, a sample of 539 teachers was drawn, comprising 233 teachers from Port Harcourt Local Government Area and 306 teachers from Obio-Akpor Local Government Area. The instrument for data collection was a researcher-designed questionnaire titled “Smart Classroom Technology Adoption Questionnaire (SCTA-Q)”, structured on a four-point rating scale of Very High Extent (4), High Extent (3), Low Extent (2), and Very Low Extent (1). Face and content validity of the instrument was established by three experts at Rivers State University, and reliability was determined using the Cronbach Alpha method through a pilot study, yielding coefficients relevant to the three clusters examined in this study. Out of 539 copies of the questionnaire administered, 453 were retrieved and found usable, comprising 196 teachers from Port Harcourt Local Government Area and 257 teachers from Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, representing an 84% return rate. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while the independent samples t-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The study found that, to a low extent, fund availability, teacher preparedness, and policy formation support enhance effective instructional delivery in public senior secondary schools in Port Harcourt Metropolis, and that there was no significant difference between the mean ratings of teachers in Port Harcourt City and Obio-Akpor Local Government Areas on any of the three dimensions. The study recommended, among others, that the Rivers State Government and the Rivers State Secondary Schools Board should establish dedicated, ring-fenced technology budget lines, reform pre-service and in-service teacher development programmed to embed digital pedagogy, and develop a comprehensive Smart Education Policy that mandates technology integration across public senior secondary schools.