Author: *Uzoigwe, M. C. Ph.D, Luke, A. A. Ph.D, Otei, I. B.

Abstract:

This study examined the perceived influence for managing University education with for lecturers’ professional empowerment during Post COVID-19 era in the Cross River State of Nigeria. Stratified and proportionate sampling techniques were used to select 150 respondents (5%) from a population of 4,770 lecturers in the two public universities in Cross River State. The instrument was validated and tested for reliability through Cronbach Alpha analysis. Data collected were analyzed using STATA/regression Analysis and descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation. The results show that there was a significant influence of emerging technologies on lecturers’ professional empowerment during the post-Covid-19 era. Finding also indicated that some of the lecturers used emerging technologies for lecture content development and delivery, knowledge creation, communication, assessment, research, academic advising and professional development, all of which empowered them to a low extent. Factors such as poor network and electricity issues were found to impede the effective utilization of emerging technologies by lecturers. The study concluded that although emerging technologies are technologies whose development, practical applications, or both are still largely unrealized, they are still essential tools to improve lecturers’ efficiency and productivity. Therefore, it was recommended that there is a need for all lecturers to regularly update their digital skills in tandem with the emerging trends in educational technology especially in the post-Covid 19 era for maximum academic productivity.    

Keywords:

Influence, Managing, Emerging technologies, Lecturers, Empowerment, Post Covid-19