The National Open University of Nigeria in its effort to take education to the doorstep of the Nigerian populace irrespective of their social status has deployed and implemented iLearn portal technology to enhance student’s learning experience.

The N.O.U.N. iLearn platform has been created to ease access to excellent quality education. The platform provides amongst many, the following:

Online class discussions organized by NOUN facilitators thereby creating a virtual classroom environment.
Facility for students to get answers to any questions or areas of difficulty pertaining to their course of study
Networking and collaboration Tools to help in community of interaction among students, facilitators, academic staff and faculty members
Better study tools such as the Smart e-Book
Digitized lecture video and audio materials for an enhanced student’ learning experience available on the platform.
Access to Assignments, Quizzes and Self-study Assessment tools


For decades, providing education for all has been a major agenda for the global community. Efforts have continually been ploughed in and thankfully, remarkable milestones have been attained at different levels. One of such milestones is the innovative use of information technology to democratize education. The recent boom of online learning platforms across the world give credence to the progress being made in the use of technology to create education solutions. Some of these platforms like Coursera, Lynda.com, Alison, Codeacademy, Udemy and Khan Academy, have already gained wide acclaim even among Nigerian youths. The beauty of these platforms is the easy access they provide to a vast variety of educational resources, networks and fun learning all at the speed of a click.

The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has now joined the league of leading global institutions at the forefront of using technology to enhance learning, with its migration to a new e-learning platform – iLEARN. Worthy of note is the fact that iLearn represents the very first time in the history of Nigerian tertiary education that e-learning is being fully integrated by a university with indigenous courses made available online, accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world.

Excitedly, with its recent introduction of iLearn, NOUN has succeeded in stepping on to the threshold of pioneering an innovative educational solution to the problems facing tertiary education in Nigeria. With this move, NOUN is giving its students the opportunity to gain access to multiple education delivery channels, which include virtual facilitation, video lectures, audio lectures, smart books, interactive courseware and various other resources in real time through the iLearn platform.

On the 14th of April this year, the ICT solution provider powering the iLearn portal presented it to the institution at a 3-day usage and capacity building event held in Lagos. In attendance was the Vice Chancellor of the National Open University, Prof. Vincent Ado Tenebe alongside other staff of the institution. As one of the pieces of the robust capacity building plan, the training program focused on providing practical know-how to academic staff of NOUN on how to use the iLearn platform. It presented firsthand the current challenges students faced while studying and how innovative technologies will solve these challenges, improve learning and further reposition the National Open University of Nigeria to provide world class Open and Distance Learning in Africa. Following this capacity building event, in-school trainings have been conducted across all the faculties, during which all NOUN lecturers/facilitators were introduced to the platform and educated on its usage. Furthermore, in-school clinics have been scheduled towards the beginning of the new semester to ensure that all the facilitators are up to speed with the new portal. NOUN students have also started gaining access to the platform and a support service is in full operation, rendering necessary help to the students.

Truly speaking, NOUN is one of the government’s most laudable attempts at providing Nigerians with access to formal tertiary education in a manner suited to their circumstances. NOUN currently has the largest student population amongst all tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The university under the visionary leadership of the current Vice Chancellor, Prof. Vincent Ado Tenebe, has stayed true to its mandate in spite of several mitigating factors. Among such factors is the low level of lecturer to student interaction due to its underlying Open and Distance Learning framework. These issues that affected the students also affected the institution, as the increasing student population became a strain on the institution’s infrastructure and manpower.

But with iLearn, an avenue for real time facilitator-to-student interaction is now provided, in a manner that leverages economies of scale through technology. This is achieved using customized features such as virtual classrooms with class discussion, course forums and the “Ask A Question” functionality. Facilitators will be able to moderate a class session, directly answer student’s questions, and provide additional insight to subject areas. The effect of this is seamless interaction between facilitators and students, and between students and fellow students. Furthermore, by allowing access through various avenues including the internet, mobile phones and even via SMS, iLearn now makes learning truly flexible and convenient. Students no longer need to study in isolation. If they encounter any issue while studying or should they be in need of any information, they can post questions or requests for explanation to thousands of fellow students a click away – be it on a laptop, tablet or mobile phone. Students will obtain first grade and quality facilitation from NOUN lecturers on the NOUN iLearn platform.

NOUN is now set to play a bigger role in solving the problem of education deficit in the country as the iLearn platform allows the delivery of quality education to a limitless number of students, thereby introducing unprecedented cost controls. Beyond that, individuals seeking to advance their education (professionals, working class people and yes, mums) can now take advantage of this platform without serious worries over time, space and financial constraints. Arguably, the NOUN iLearn initiative is a major boost to President Goodluck Jonathan’s national transformation agenda with respect to education.

In the end, the solutions to the problems bedeviling Nigeria’s educational sector will be solved in part by innovation. However it must be pointed out that innovation cannot in itself survive in a vacuum. It must be driven with passion beyond measure by the drivers of policy, technological thinkers and every individual who cares for a better and progressive Nigeria. Government, teachers and students must learn new skills, make new sacrifices and embrace change! With its evident values, it is safe to admit that iLearn represents one of the noteworthy milestones in climbing out of the abyss that our educational system is currently in.

These are to mention a few benefits to all concerned.

To effectively administer this innovative development, the management of NOUN have included the sum of N7,500.00 only to cover administrative charges and running costs of the platform per semester.
We anticipate your cooperation in order to make our goal of revolutionizing the learning experience a success for the benefits of all our esteemed students.


Source: http://www.naijainfos.com/2014/09/what-you-dont-know-about-national-open.html#.VBnCrEAixoA

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