UTILIZATION OF E-LEARNING RESOURCES AMONG LECTURERS IN NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY STUDY CENTERS IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIA

Despite the effort of the Federal Government of Nigeria to enhance the quality of the learning process in Nigerian universities by introducing the use of ICT resources in schools through which lecturers will acquire knowledge and skills that would enable them source the internet and utilize e-learning resources for qualitative teaching, the attainment of the e-learning objectives in National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) appears elusive. The study investigated the utilization of e-learning resources among lecturers in National Open University study centers in South East Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study, while survey design was adopted. The population of the study comprised all the 724 facilitators in National Open University study centers, South East Nigeria. The sample size comprised 84 lecturers obtained through simple random sampling and accidental sampling techniques. Questionnaire was used to collect data. The reliabilities of the clusters in the instrument which were ascertained with Cronbach alpha method were found to be 0.71, 0.80 and 0.77. The data collected were analyzed using mean. The findings of the study revealed that many of the lecturers utilized e-learning resources for instructional delivery, research purposes and evaluation purposes. Based on the findings, it was recommended that University administrators should promote the use of e learning among lecturers by providing technologically enhanced libraries in order to support the use of e learning for the tripartite purposes of instructional delivery, research and evaluation. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0580/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Reviewer Acknowledgements

International Journal of Social Science Studies (IJSSS) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether IJSSS publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue.Reviewers for Volume 9, Number 3Abdul Azim Akhtar, Independent Academic & Researcher, Delhi, IndiaAmany Albert, Beni-Suef University, EgyptAnastasia Panagakos, Cosumnes River College, USAAntónio Calha, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, PortugalAurora Pestaño, University of San Jose Recoletos (USJR), PhilippinesAyşegül Sili Kalem, Necmettin Erbakan Universitesi, TurkeyBo Li, St Ambrose University, USADaniel Tia, University of Félix Houphouët-Boigny Abidjan, GRATHEL , Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)E.Ozan Aksoz, Anadolu University, TurkeyFahri ÖZSUNGUR, Adana Science and Technology University, TurkeyGülsüm Depeli, Hacettepe University, TurkeyHao Liu, Beijing Normal University, ChinaHenry Poduthas, West Texas A&M University, USAIoannis Makris, High School of Pedagogical and Technical Education, GreeceIvan Lenard, Elementary school Ladimirevci, CroatiaJibrin Ubale Yahaya, National Open University of Nigeria NOUN, NigeriaLaura Diaconu Maxim, "Alexandru Ioan Cuza University" of Iasi, RomaniaMałgorzata Haładewicz, Opole University of Technology, PolandMd. Nasir Uddin, Prime Minister’s Office, BangladeshMei-Ling Lin, National Open University, TaiwanMichael Brooks, North Carolina A&T State University, USAMohamed Mehdi Jelassi, IHEC Carthage, TunisiaNadarajah Pushparajah, University of Jaffna, Sri LankaPeriyasami Anbarasan, Indian Institute of technology Delhi, IndiaRachita Shrivastava Roy, Department of Higher Education,Chhatisgarh-India, IndiaRima Meilita Sari, STKIP Al-Washliyah, IndonesiaUğur DEMİRCİ, Turkish National Police, Turkey James YoungEditorial AssistantOn behalf of,The Editorial Board of International Journal of Social Science StudiesRedfame Publishing9450 SW Gemini Dr. #99416Beaverton, OR 97008, USAURL: http://ijsss.redfame.com

Assessment of the Use of Social Media by Students of the National Open University of Nigeria, Abeokuta Study Centre

Social media sites have been recognised as important resources for education. They facilitate effective interaction between teachers and students and promote prompt and frequent interactions among students. Hence, this study was aimed at assessing the use of social media by students of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). To achieve this, the study attempted to determine the extent to which students of NOUN use social media, what the students use social media for, and the challenges and benefits of the use of social media by the students for academic purpose. Selected theories for this study are uses and gratification and diffusion of innovation theories. The study employed survey method of research. The study discovered that all the respondents had access to social media sites. The study also observed that majority of the respondents share academic materials through their social media sites. Some of the identified challenges in accessing social media include weak internet connection, inconsistent power supply, limited financial resources.

Reviewer Acknowledgements

International Journal of Social Science Studies (IJSSS) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether IJSSS publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue.Reviewers for Volume 8, Number 6Aurora Pestaño, University of San Jose Recoletos (USJR), PhilippinesEncarnación ABAD ARENAS, National University of Distance Education (UNED), SpainHao Liu, Beijing Normal University, ChinaJehu Onyekwere Nnaji, University of Naples II, Italy and Globe Visions Network Italy, ItalyJibrin Ubale Yahaya, National Open University of Nigeria NOUN, NigeriaJulia M. Mack, Gannon University, USAMei-Ling Lin, National Open University, TaiwanQingzhi Huan, Peking University, ChinaRonaldo R. Larioque, NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, PhilippinesShyue Chuan CHONG, New Era University College, MalaysiaUğur DEMİRCİ, Turkish National Police, TurkeyYusramizza Md Isa, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia James YoungEditorial AssistantOn behalf of,The Editorial Board of International Journal of Social Science StudiesRedfame Publishing9450 SW Gemini Dr. #99416Beaverton, OR 97008, USAURL: http://ijsss.redfame.com

Individual innovativeness, self-efficacy and e-learning readiness of students of Yenagoa study centre, National Open University of Nigeria

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the role individual innovativeness along with e-learning self-efficacy play in predicting the e-learning readiness of first- and second-year students of an open and distance education institutions in an African context.Design/methodology/approachTherefore, building on previous related research in this area, a quantitative approach was adopted to address the research questions and to establish whether a statistically significant relationship existed between individual innovativeness, e-learning self-efficacy, the independent variables; and e-learning readiness, the dependent variable. In total, 476 first- and second-years students of the university participated in the four-Likert-type scale survey. The research instrument which comprises 74 survey items was completed by 217 of the students. Statistical tools used for analysing data included both Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficients and t-tests.FindingsIt was discovered that a strong positive and significant relationship was observed between individual innovativeness and e-learning readiness of first- and second-year students of the Yenagoa Study Centre of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN); a statistically significant relationship was also found between e-learning self-efficacy scores and the e-learning readiness of the first- and second-year students of the Yenagoa Study Centre of NOUN; there was a statistically significant joint relationship between the three variables under investigation; findings equally revealed that male respondents had higher e-learning readiness than their female counterparts.Research limitations/implicationsLike every other study of this nature, this one also suffers some limitations. First, NOUN is a very large university with over half a million students spread across almost 78 study centres. This means that observation from just one study centre amounts to a very small sample size. This according to Schweighofer, Weitlaner, Ebner and Rothe (2019) jeopardises the generalisability and validity of study results. The authors also maintain that empirical data generated from surveys that usually rely participants' abilities to read and select responses without further interpretation by the researchers suffer from cognitive biases like social desirability. To address the above limitations, detailed studies involving all studies centres of NOUN be undertaken and other qualitative and or mixed research methodologies be adopted in the future.Practical implicationsThe implications for this study are that people who are innately innovative will willingly accept technology and by extension, learning in technology-rich environments like those found in like NOUN whose mode of study is blended learning inherently found in open and distance learning (ODL) institution. Therefore, this study is significant as it will provide relevant information to the management and administrators of NOUN, policymakers and regulatory institutions for the development, deployment and implementation of e-learning strategies. Findings will also benefit e-learning initiatives undertaken by similar institutions that adopt the ODL mode of education in Nigeria and other developing countries.Originality/valueEven though, studies on the antecedents of e-learning readiness have been widely conducted across diverse contexts, studies exploring the associations between individual innovativeness, e-learning self-efficacy and e-learning readiness are relatively hard to come by. The above two variables as predicting the e-learning readiness in the study context are comparatively new. This study thus focuses on the relationships between the individual innovativeness levels, e-learning self-efficacy beliefs of students and their e-learning readiness which ultimately determines their ability to sustain studies in an ODL institution.