Vice-Chancellor,聽水果派 of Nigeria (NOUN),聽Prof. Olufemi Peters聽and the university鈥檚 erstwhile Vice-Chancellor,聽Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede have聽joined other stakeholders to call for the implementation of a national policy to promote digital learning in Nigeria.
They made the聽call in Abuja at a聽2-day聽Workshop on聽Policy聽Initiative for聽Digital聽Learning in Nigerian Universities, which was聽attended by 19聽Vice-Chancellors, 19 university directors of ICTs, 13 directors of Africa Centres of Excellence from different locations in the country and other stakeholders like the聽Federal聽Ministry of聽Education and the聽National聽Universities聽Commission (NUC).
The workshop was organised by the Regional Training and Research Institute for Distance and Open Learning (RETRIDOL), NOUN, in collaboration with Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver, Canada, and the African Centre of Excellence on Technology Enhanced Learning (ACETEL).
Declaring the workshop open, NOUN VC,聽represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor on Technology, Innovation and Research,聽Prof. Monioluwa Olaniyi,聽said the theme of the workshop聽was timely, in view of the current technological revolution in the 21st聽century.
Peters stressed the need for technology-enabled learning in higher education institutions聽to remain relevant in the mandate of teaching and for national development.
PIX: Representing the VC; Prof. Monioluwa Olaniyi (DVC TIR) declaring the workshop open
鈥樷楾o drive a successful adoption of sustainable technology integration, policies and strategic initiatives are critical,鈥欌櫬爃e said.
While commending the sponsors of the project, he added that the Covid-19 pandemic聽was a wakeup call for institutions to address policy issues in the planning and deployment of digital learning.
On his part, a聽renowned professor of聽Open and聽Distance聽Learning and former聽Vice-Chancellor of the 水果派 of Nigeria (NOUN),聽Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede,聽said no country would achieve proficient digital economy without digital skills.
鈥淎ll over the world people have embraced technology much more than we think; there is nothing you can do now without technology. Technology has taken over all parts of our system.
PIX: Emeritus Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede delivering his address
鈥淚t has become imperative to appreciate the role of technology in teaching and learning so that the next generation will be better placed in appreciating the world and of being trained for the workforce and better entrepreneurs.
鈥淭he world is now depending on digital economy, so this is what the policy is advocating, that the universities should appreciate the use of digital learning in today鈥檚 world.
鈥淭he professors, lecturers can use digital learning for teaching, assessment, exams, interact with students and send their messages across and bring students together for them to have their group discussions.
鈥淒igital literacy is actually saying we should understand how to use all these technologies, how to use them to access information and how to produce information through them,鈥 he said.