NOUN Trains Staff On Open Educational Resources

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The Regional Training and Research Institute For Distance and Open Learning (RETRIDOL), National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in collaboration with Commonwealth of Learning (COL) have organised a 3-day training workshop on Open Educational Resources (OER) material Development for Academic staff from Universities in Nigeria. 

The workshop which involved large presence of experts and other relevant stakeholders in the education sector is to highlight the global importance of the use of (OER) as a tool to mitigate the rising cost of educational materials. 

Declaring the workshop open in Abuja yesterday, the minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu commended NOUN for championing the initiative. 

Represented by the executive secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC) Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, the minister pledged to continue to support the success of distance learning in the country. “I must congratulate the Vice Chancellor of NOUN, director of RETRIDOL and other key stakeholders within NOUN for this Initiative. We shall continue to give you all the support you need to ensure the penetration of Open and Distance learning in West Africa and beyond.” 

The permanent representative of Nigeria to the ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador Babatunde Nurudeen said so many benefits abound in OER for the teaching staff. “As we have all discovered, OER can supplement and even add value to the existing curricula in place in virtually all our tertiary institutions while for the students, it can also reduce the cost of education by serving as substitutes to the use of expensive textbooks.” 

According to him, the permanent Mission of Nigeria to the ECOWAS Commission is already partnering with RETRIDOL with the aim of ensuring that the activities of the centre are expanded beyond the Anglophone West Africa. 

In his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu said the institution is also trying to encourage ODL beyond the level of higher education.