Technology & Nigeria’s Education Problems Pt 2 (Quality)

February 17, 2016
May 15, 2023

We previously established (read more here) that technology can increase access to education especially in a country like Nigeria where the demand is high, in this article we will establish another of our nation’s education problems that technology can solve.

Not only does technology increase access but it can also increase the quality of content delivery. One of the many problems that employers lament about is the fact that Nigerian graduates are increasingly becoming unemployable, this is due to a myriad of reasons some of which include:

  • Lack of critical teaching infrastructure across our institutions.
  • Inadequate teaching tools and equipment.
  • Irrelevance of curriculum to 21st century realities.
  • Poor curriculum delivery.

While we understand that the graduates can be held responsible for this employability issue, we are exploring the role played by external parties. Such parties include their teachers, curriculum, government etc. In many of our schools especially primary and secondary, the quality of education delivery is quite substandard which later creates problems as the students move from one level of education to another. Poor delivery impacts the global competitiveness of these students.

Many of our students are not exposed to some of the technologies that their peers around the world have access to. For example, many Nigerian graduates still cannot properly operate a computer system or use popular application software like Microsoft Office suite etc. Exposing our students especially at a young age to relevant technologies can cause them to develop technology and research skills at an early age. An article by the Telegraph UK posits that “providing kids with tools that help them use technology as a creative substance can help their development in the digital age”.

How can technology increase the quality of teaching delivery?

  1. Teachers now have access to tons of relevant materials on the internet via search engines such as Google, Bing etc. This will increase the quality of their teaching notes. Students also have access to the same materials online, hence they can enhance the quality of their course work.
  2. Video streaming/sharing websites such as Youtube, Vimeo etc. can also enrich the learning experience for students. Including videos in teaching delivery will help students learn in a way they can easily relate to and that is easy to recall. As a matter of fact, Youtube has an education focused channel, view here http://www.youtube.com/education.
  3. Blogging – Having your students create a blog will go a long way in improving their writing skills. Creating a blog they can access will provide additional reference for their research work and they can also use it as a resource to learn more about what they were taught in class.
  4. Virtual Reality Technology can for example helps history student “walk around a Greek city, e.g. Athens, and explore various aspects, often by using touch via the data glove” according to an article on the Virtual Reality Site. You can read more here http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-education/in-the-classroom.html.

There are new technologies continually springing up that can improve the quality of teaching delivery in our institutions some of which include cloud computing, internet of things etc.  These technologies range from very simple ones like Whatsapp etc. to very complex ones like Artificial Intelligence related technology. These technologies will go a long to enhance experiential learning instead of the completely theory-based and textual learning going on in many of our institutions.

The good news is some of our institutions are gradually embracing technology in the classroom even though more needs to be done. In my last article we discussed an example in one of our higher institutions that deployed a tablet for online learning. Read here http://techloy.com/2015/02/03/oau-online-distance-learning-students-vigitabs/. The videos available on the tablet will enhance the quality of teaching delivery.

In conclusion, we can increase the quality of education delivered in our various teaching institutions if we engage technology more in our classrooms.

Are you looking to engage technology in your school or organization for learning? Do not hesitate to contact us via https://www.eyecity.africa/contact

‍

Photo by Emmanuel Ikwuegbu on Unsplash

Lanre