Open University trains facilitators in Kaduna

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

In its bid to key into the Information Communication Technology (ICT world, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), in collaboration with Fiztman Education Consult and Schulportal Technologies, recently  organized a 2-day workshop on ICT to enable facilitation  of the Open University in the northern zone. The workshop, said to be part of the vision of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Vincent Ado Tenebe’s administration, in making sure NOUN is not left behind globally in using the latest technology available to open and distance education (ODL) and in transmitting quality and accessible education in Nigeria, held at the NOUN campus in Kaduna state, with over 50 participants from across the  northern zone of the country.

In his address, the resource person, who is the Director, Open and Distance  Learning of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Dr. Suleiman Ramon Yusuf, said the purpose of the workshop was to ensure that facilitators of the NOUN are made to understand their roles as facilitators, so as not to confuse facilitation with lecturing as he has seen most of them do in several occasions. Responding shortly at the close of the workshop,   some of the participants, who spoke to newsmen said the exercise was very enriching, and has helped to give them a better understanding of how to interact with their students, how to use the software to make learning and teaching easy for them.

 The participants, however, used the occasion to point out some of their challenges to include the absence of Internet connectivity in their centers, inability of some of their students to use computers and most importantly, the lack of salaries.