DIGITAL ARCHIVING FOR THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF PUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study investigated digital archiving for administration of public secondary schools in Rivers State. Three research questions guided the study and three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significance level. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The study was anchored on Frank Upward (1996) Record Continuum Theory. The population of the study comprised 804 administrative staff in public Senior Secondary Schools in Rivers State. Sample 1 size of 643 administrative staff representing 80% of the population was drawn using stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was the researcher’s developed questionnaire titled Digital Archiving Questionnaire (DAQ). The reliability of the instrument was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha Statistics. The overall reliability index yielded 0.79. Mean ratings and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while Z – test was used to test the null hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that there are no adequate strategies put in place for digital records creation, digital records preservation, efficient retrieval of digital records and digital records classification for the admin+istration of public senior secondary schools in rivers state. Also the findings showed that the strategies for improving digital archiving include: Provision of strong internet band widths, periodic staff training on digital skills, provision of computer systems in schools, creating computerized catalogue and providing archival collection policy. Based on the findings, it was recommended amongst others that the school administrator should be motivated to create and store records using digital technology.