IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

WORLD JOURNAL OF INNOVATION AND MODERN TECHNOLOGY (WJIMT )

E-ISSN 2504-4766
P-ISSN 2682-5910
VOL. 9 NO. 2 2025
DOI: 10.56201/wjimt.v9.no2.2025.pg117.127

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Digital Competencies of Facilitators: A Panacea for effective instructional delivery in open and distance learning in Higher Education in the South-South Zone of Nigeria

Osuji, Catherine U PhD, Dappa-Wilcox Hannah

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Abstract

This paper investigated digital competencies of facilitators: A panacea for effective instructional delivery in open and distance learning in higher education. Three objectives, three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population of the study was 2,657. The sample size of the study was achieved by a multistage sampling technique with a sample size of 600 facilitators comprising 290 males and 310 females from the open university Port Harcourt center. The reliability of the instrument was established using test-retest method and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was adopted in calculating a reliability index of 0.81. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while z-test was used in testing the formulated null-hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Digital Competencies of Facilitators for effective instructional delivery”. The instrument was validated by two experts in the Department of Measurement and Evaluation of the Rivers State University of Port Harcourt. The findings of the study revealed that to a high extent facilitators are highly literate in digital devices, pedagogical skills, technological proficiencies, communication and collaboration tools, assessment and feedback in digital contexts. The findings also revealed that the use of digital information resources by the facilitators of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in South-South Nigeria was accounted for by their digital competency level which has resulted to effective instructional delivery. It was recommended among others that government should engage more trained personnel and re-training of facilitators should be done regularly so as to enhance effective instructional delivery.

keywords:

Digital Competencies, effective instructional delivery, digital content creation, collaboration and communication facilitators and open and distance learning

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