Abstract:

Higher education institutions experience large classes despite the National Universities’ Commission’s (NUC) and other supervisory agencies emphasis on carrying capacity of the institutions in Nigeria. The overpopulation affects effective teaching and learning and quality assurance. This study focused on perception of intern teachers of the use of interactive strategies in teaching Curriculum Studies in an online environment in a College of Education. 200 computer science students (intern teachers) in a Curriculum Studies class formed the study sample. Three research questions guided the study. A structured and validated questionnaire with reliability index of 0.79, made up of 25 items constructed on a four-point Likert-type scale was administered on the students for data collection. The data were analysed using simple mean and the results showed that the intern teachers supported the use of the teaching strategies in an online class as a complement to the face to face method of teaching. They are also recommended as alternative strategies to reduce the problems associated with large classes. However, the research subjects were sceptical about the implementation of online teaching as a result of power supply and access to internet facilities. The findings have a far reaching implication for the 21st Century teaching and learning. Suggestions towards effective online teaching and learning were made especially with theGovernment’s reiteration of the need for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the schools in Nigeria.Key Words: Interactive learning, online environment, Intern teachers, virtual learning and online teaching.

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