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Evaluation of Open Educational Resources in National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) for Improving Students’ Learning Outcomes in South-East, Nigeria

Mfon Okon Ekong, PhD, Odudu Manasseh Essien, Williams Kennedy George

Abstract

This study evaluated the availability and utilization of Open Educational Resources (OER) in National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) for improving students’ learning outcomes in South-East geopolitical zone, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consisted of 42,200 NOUN students comprising of 13550, 4750, 13200 and 10700 in Enugu, Anambra, Imo and Abia States study centres. Simple randomly sampling technique was used to select one hundred and ninety-eight (198) students comprising of 99 students in Anambra and 99 students in Enugu for the study. A 50-item questionnaire consisting of sections A to D and 5-point rating scale used for data collection was faced validated by three experts. Cronbach alpha statistics was used to determine the reliability coefficient of the instrument which yielded overall reliability index of 0.77 comprising of 0.77, 0.83 and 0.71 for Section B, C and D respectively indicating that the instrument was reliable. The research questions were answered using Mean and Standard Deviation while independent t-test was used to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. Findings of the study showed that Open Educational Resources are highly available but lowly utilized in NOUN for improving students’ learning outcomes in Anambra and Enugu State. The study also showed inadequate internet service, infrastructure, technical support staff and awareness as the challenges facing NOUN in the utilization of OER for improving students’ learning outcomes. From the findings of the study, there was no significant difference between the mean responses of NOUN students in Anambra and Enugu State on availability, utilization and challenges of OER for improving students’ learning outcomes. Hence, the researchers recommended that NOUN should organize seminars, workshops, conferences and symposiums on O

Keywords

Open Educational Resources (OER); National Open University of Nigeria

References

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