How College Instructors Use Social Media for Instruction

The use of social media has increased tremendously in recent years with many sectors using it for the purpose of communicating, sharing ideas, gathering information and stating opinions. The use of social media has trickled down into education with instructors using it for teaching and learning. This study used Gagne\u27s Nine Events of Instruction as a framework to investigate the types of social media applications used, and how they are specifically used for instructional purpose in colleges. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze data. Results indicated that about 31% of instructors use different social media types in diverse ways that related to Gagne\u27s Nine Events of Instructional design. The study gives insight on the ingenious ways in which instructors use social media for instruction

Analysis of Organic Growth Strategies on Performance of small and medium sized Enterprises: Case of Thika Sub-County, Kenya

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) play an important economic role in Kenya. The sub-sector contributes to an estimated 20 percent of the GDP and employs 85 percent of the Kenyan workforce. The purpose of the study was to analyze the influence of organic growth strategies on the performance of SMEs in Thika sub-county, Kenya. The study was guided by the Ansoff’s Matrix and Penrose’s (1959) growth theories and the Balanced Scorecard performance theory by Kaplan & Norton (1992) in the measurement of performance of SMEs. The study was guided by the following null hypothesis: There is no relationship between penetration, market development, product development and diversification strategies on the performance of SMEs in Thika Sub-county. Literature was reviewed on the concept of growth in enterprises, definition of SMEs, organic growth strategies and the concept of performance of enterprises. A conceptual framework was also developed. The organic growth strategies formed the independent variables while the performance of SMEs was the dependent variable. The strategy implementation conditions formed the intervening variable. The central thesis of the study was that organic (internal) growth strategies are core ingredients necessary for spurring growth of SMEs and in turn enhancing their performance. The study was a correlational study. It was located in Thika Sub-County in Kiambu County, Kenya. The study targeted 4805 SMEs within the Sub-County. Proportional stratified random sampling technique was used to sample 36 SMEs. The unit of analysis was the 36 CEOs/ Marketing Managers of the sampled SMEs, who were purposively chosen due to their superior knowledge of the SMEs. Data was collected using Organic Growth Strategies Questionnaire (OGSQ). Quantitative data was coded into a computer sheet that was used to enter data in Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) program (version 21.0). Quantitative data will be presented in frequency distribution tables and analyzed using mean, percentage, Pearson-Product correlation coefficient and linear regression. The significance of the results was tested at .05 significance level. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The study found out that penetration, market development, product development and diversification strategies positively influenced the performance of SMEs. The four independent variables account for 44.9% of the total variability of performance of SMEs. Penetration and market development strategies added statistically significantly to the prediction of performance of SMEs. The product development and diversification strategies should approached with caution as they are much riskier. The study concluded that SMEs should embrace the organic growth strategies to spur growth of their enterprises. The study recommended that the government should create a Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to fund the implementation of the organic growth strategies developed by SMEs and provide technical support in market research, ideas incubation and capacity building of the CEOs/Owners of the SMEs.  Finally, the study recommended that similar studies to be carried in other counties in Kenya. Also, further study should be conducted to analyze the influence of inorganic strategies on performance of SMEs. Key Words: Organic Growth Strategies, Performance of small and medium sized Enterprises

Effect of Teaching through Problem - Solving on Students’ Performance in Mathematics in Secondary School in Murang’a County, Kenya

Students’ are weak in curriculum outcomes in Mathematics at National examinations of secondary school education have been of concern to primary and secondary stakeholders. The concern was that result determines student’s participation in science oriented programmes at tertiary level. Many interventions have been put in place to avoid but performance persisted. Science programmes support Kenya development agenda as described in the current vision 2030 including social, economic, political technological and industrial development. The pedagogical interventions had been done in various Counties. The study examined effect of teaching through problem – solving on students’ achievements in Mathematics in secondary schools in Murang’a County, Kenya. This County was among 47 counties, but it was favoured because of climatic condition and assessable roads to schools. The study investigated students’ performance in Mathematics for those taught using problem - solving strategies with those taught using conventional strategies. The study employed quasi – experimental design using Solomon Four Group model. The target population was 28485 students in 340 secondary schools in Murang’a County. These schools were purposely stratified into four categories according to their performance in national examination past four years. Four schools from each stratum were randomly distributed into four groups. Two groups E1 and E2 were assigned as experimental groups whereas other two C1 and C2 as control groups. A total of 16 schools: 8 schools experimental and 8 schools, control. Sample size of 544 students and 16 teachers were involved in the study. Pretest and posttest Students’ Mathematics Achievement Questionnaire were constructed by national examiners and moderated by senior examiners not in sampled schools. Eight schools participated in pre-test in E1 and C1 and all 16 schools received post- test Mathematics achievements tests after intervention. In order to establish significance means difference between students taught through problem – solving and those taught through conventional strategies paired t –tests and Cohen’s d effect measure were used. Problem – solving method improved students’ performance and teachers should embrace facilitating Mathematics in an environment contributing to better achievement

Improving the accessibility of digital content via mobile technology. A case study of Mount Kenya University

Globally, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have embraced the use of mobile technology in the delivery of instructional resources which has promised multiple benefits in digital or blended learning, HEIs are facing the challenge of high internet tariffs. The current study sought to improve the accessibility of digital content via mobile technology within limited Internet connectivity contexts. The study used a quantitative research approach within which a descriptive survey research design was adopted. The case study was Mount Kenya University in Kenya. The study was guided by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The target population was 15123 individuals comprising of 15,000 students and 123 were educators/ ICT staff who accessed digital content in the academic year 2018/2019. The mobile-based model used a WIFI router device which is not internet supported as an alternative to a wired internet connection where students and educators access digital content from the mobile sub-server which was not connected to the internet through their mobile technology. The findings showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between internet connectivity, type of mobile technology, user literacy, data caching, and eLearning policy had a significant effect on the accessibility of digital content. The variables were statistically significant. The adjusted R squared was 0.862 indicating that 86.2 percent of the total variation of accessibility of digital content can be explained by Internet connectivity, e-learning policy, type of mobile technology, data caching, and user literacy. The study then went ahead to develop a mobile-based e-learning model. The findings showed that the use of mobile-based e-learning (m-learning) in universities will greatly improve access to digital content and hence e-learning. The study recommends the use of m-learning as it will provide alternative means of optimizing Internet connectivity

Cost Effective News Gathering Technique in Kenya Using Terrestrial Broadband IP Links

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Science in Information TechnologyThis study aims to understand the methodologies and challenges of the current news gathering techniques used by broadcasters in Kenya and provide guidelines and methodology for development of an economical and cost-effective alternative technique. The research adopts both an analytic and applied approach. The analytic approach aims to review and analyze the existing methodologies and techniques and the challenges associated with them. The Applied approach aims to provide a guideline and methodology for a cost-effective alternative technique using locally available computer hardware (Video input and output cards), software (MPEG4 encoders and decoders) running over terrestrial broadband IP Links. The findings indicate that majority of the broadcasters in Kenya use the traditional satellite based news gathering technique (Digital Satellite News Gathering) which exhibit expensive and proprietary hardware systems and software. These techniques are always constrained by resources such as satellite bandwidth, hardware equipments and qualified manpower. The designed cost-effective alternative technique delivers the same video quality with significantly low capital expenditure and operation costs. The cost effective technique provides good foundation for future research and development of low cost commercial news gathering systems that run on broadband IP links. Additional research and experiments are recommended for development of similar but robust, versatile and automated systems that have the encoding software embedded in the operating systems code (such as Linux and UNIX) in a scenario where the encoder and decoder computers powers on without I/O devices and starts the services at boot time. The developed technique provide the broadcasters in Kenya and other developing countries with a cheaper alternative news gathering systems that can be used where reliable and fast terrestrial fibre, microwave, WiMax , 3 G or 4G links exists. For guaranteed service, the broadcasters should ensure they use robust computers suitable for outdoor use and the bandwidth available on the terrestrial links is over 2 Mbps for video and 128 Kbps for audio. This study shows that for the fist time, the terrestrial IP broadband networks in the region can be used for news gathering services by broadcasters using low cost equipments. The economic sense of using computers shows the news gathering service can be available to broadcasters regardless of cost and resource constraints

The Influence of Headteachers’ Motivation Practices on Girls’ Access to Public Primary Education in Garissa Sub-county, Garissa County, Kenya

Introduction of Free Primary Education has increased demand for primary education. However, the number of girls’ accessing primary education is still below expectations with the ratio of boys to girls being 5:2 in Garissa Sub-County. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of headteachers’ motivation practices on girls’ access to primary education in Garissa Sub-County, Garissa County, Kenya. The study was guided by the Management Practices and Pearson’s Gender Relations Theories. The study adopted mixed methodology and descriptive research design. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically along the objectives and presented in narrative forms. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation and inferentially using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 23) and presented using tables. The study established that headteachers’ motivation practices influence girls’ access to public primary education. Thus, the study recommends that headteachers need to change their approaches of motivating girls to enroll in schools. School supervision by the headteacher and the Directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards should be enhanced for monitoring to give proper guidance to the headteachers on the need to implement child rights education in their schools

Influence of Classroom Control Practices on The Development of Holistic Learners in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya

Effective curriculum implementation in schools should be geared towards nurturing and promoting development of holistic learners which is the desire of every education system worldwide. The same is able to instill practical skills, knowledge, desired values, beliefs and attitudes in learners who in turn become useful members in the society. There little or no information at all in regard to the influence of curriculum implementation dynamics on the development of holistic learners in public secondary schools in Kiambu County, Kenya. The purpose of the study was therefore to establish the influence of classroom control practices on the development of holistic learners in public secondary schools in Kiambu County, Kenya. The objectives of the study was to establish the influence of classroom control practices on the development of holistic learners in public secondary schools in Kiambu County, Kenya. The study was informed by the holistic development theory and instructional design theory. The study employed mixed methodology and concurrent triangulation design that enabled the researcher to triangulate the findings. The target population comprised 1200 respondents: 100 principals, 300 teachers and 800 form three students. Stratified, purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the required sample size which was 360 respondents comprising 30 principals, 90 teachers and 240 students. Questionnaires were administered to teachers and students while interview guides were used for the principals. Piloting of research instruments was conducted in schools not included in the actual study during data collection. Reliability was tested by use of test-retest method where Cronbach`s Alpha coefficient determined the reliability coefficient value r=0.7 an indication of high internal reliability hence the instruments were suitable to collect data. Validity of the research instruments was determined by considering the judgment of experts and supervisors. To ensure dependability of the instruments, comparable data was collected via a follow up study carried out in the same context using same process on the same respondents. To guarantee the gathered data were credible, concurrent research design was used.nbsp Qualitative data was analyzed thematically while quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Correlation Coefficient with the help of SPSS version 23). Quantitative results collected through questionnaires from teachers and students were presented in figures and frequency tables generated through Microsoft excel version 2010. Pearson product moments correlation coefficient (r) was used to test for strength of association at 95% confidence level. The findings revealed that there was a correlation between curriculum implementation dynamics and the development of holistic learners in secondary schools of Kiambu county Kenya. Assessment practices, classroom control practices and co-curricular activities were found to have negative correlation with the development of learner`s spirituality, cognitive, personality, self-efficacy, inter-personal values among other aspects of a holistic learner. However, there was a strong and positive correlation between teaching methods, remedial teaching and engagement in co-curricular activities and the development of holistic learners in Kiambu County. The study concluded that in public secondary schools in Kiambu County, curriculum implementation dynamics employed are correlated with the development of holistic learners. The study therefore recommended that teachers` in-service training programmes must be adjusted to reinforce classroom control practices that contribute positively to the development of holistic learners and eliminate school related practices that affect the development of holistic learners negatively

Effects of crude kerosene on testosterone levels, aggression and toxicity in rat

The use of crude kerosene as a dietary supplement in boarding schools has been a common practice in east Africa and other countries for many years, with the belief of it reducing the sex drive (libido) at the pubertal stage. There is however no scientific basis for this belief. The present study aimed at using a rat animal model to investigate the effects of crude kerosene on serum testosterone levels, aggression and its possible toxic effects. Fifteen male albino rats of approximately similar age and average weights were put into three groups of five animals each; the control group (placebo), low kerosene dose (10 μl/day) group and high kerosene dose (300 μl/day) group. ELISA was used to determine the serum testosterone levels. During treatment, changes in aggression were observed and noted. Liver toxicity was determined using enzyme assays, total protein and albumin while renal toxicity was monitored using serum creatinine levels. A full hemogram was conducted to determine hematological effects. Various tissue biopsies were obtained and examined using histopathological techniques for evidence of toxicity. Contrary to the common belief, our findings showed an overall increase of serum testosterone levels of up to 66% in the low dose and 75% in the high dose groups, with an increasing trend by the end of the study. The high dose group showed significantly increased levels of white blood cells (WBC) (p = 0.036), red blood cells (RBC) (p = 0.025), hematocrit (HCT) (p = 0.03), red cell distribution width (p = 0.028) and platelets (p = 0.017). The histological results of the stomach indicated chronic gastritis