Prof. Olufemi Peters, an expert in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode of education, has identified standard as the “weak-link” in the recent rush by the single-mode universities in Nigeria to offer online education in an attempt to manuvre the ravaging second wave Covid-19.
Ibrahim Sheme, Director, Media and Publicity of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in a statement quoted Peters as speaking during an inaugural lecture delivered virtually on Thursday at the institution.
“Peters said many otherwise single-mode, face-to-face (f2f) universities are fast converting to dual-mode institutions due to certain reasons,”the statement said.
“Weak-Links: A Structural Phenomenon to Systemic Efficiency,” that the altruistic nature of ODL to Nigeria and its instructional delivery has an established standard, which may be the weak-link to the latest “converts” offering online education”, the Professor noted.
The lecture, the 16th in the series for the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), was streamed live on various online platforms from the university’s headquarters in Abuja., according to the statement.
Furthermore, it stated that the Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu, principal officers and some deans of the university were the few participants at the largely distanced venue, while hundreds of officials, staff, the general public, families and friends followed the presentation virtually.
Peters, who incidentally is the incoming Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, explained that the conversion to the dual-mode was partly necessitated by factors such as the pedigree of the ODL people in the country, the improved delivery channels and “the new social reformer in the land: the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Practitioners in ODL philosophy and operations are now being increasingly created. However, in order for the practice to be comparable in the product assessment with its f2f counterpart, ‘standards’ have to be set.
“Without standard, which can be an obvious weak-link, an industry would fail to meet the definition of an industry”, Peters opined.
He posited that a mere online delivery may not meet the contextual philosophy of ODL, as the former often lacks attention to the basic educational standards.
