Abstract
The study explored the effects of virtual classrooms on academic achievement and retention among university students of Agricultural Education in North-Central Nigeria (NCN). Quasi-experimental research design was adopted for the study. Four research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The population for the study consisted of 172 students of Agricultural Education in three universities in NCN. Purposive sampling was used in selecting the three universities in NCN. Cognitive Achievement Test on Fishery (CATF). The CATF contains 50 multiple choice questions (MCQ). The CATF were subjected to face and content validation by three experts. The reliability of the instruments was determined using Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (KR-20) technique was used for CATF which revealed an index of 0.79 coefficients. Mean was used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that there was significant difference in the students mean achievement in fishery where Google Classroom showed more effect than in Zoom. The agricultural education students' retention in Google Classroom and control group improved slightly after some time and agricultural education students exposed to Zoom improved slightly while that of control group dropped after some time. The study recommended that virtual classroom should be included in the curriculum of Agricultural Education by National Universities Commission (NUC) to help in instructional delivery.
Keywords: Academic Achievement, Google Classroom, Retention, and Virtual Classrooms
Publication Date: 2025-12-10