Creating digital materials for e-learning students in agriculture in Ogbomosho, Nigeria

Mrs Olasumbo Oladipupo is an e-tutor for agricultural economics and extension at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology’s Open and Distance Learning Centre in Ogbomosho, Oyo State.

She sources information from open educational resources (OERs), print books, and draws on her past experiences to develop content for her undergraduate students in agriculture, following the curriculum provided by the Nigerian Universities Commission. She then adapts her material into digital formats for her distance learning students using Camtasia (a video-editing software package) and PowerPoint.

Mrs Olasumbo uses a combination of text, images and smart art to create engaging slides using PowerPoint. She then uses Camtasia to record and edit videos, in which she talks her students through the slides. All content must be adapted to follow the Centre’s template, and it is ultimately delivered to students through the university’s learning management system.

For Olasumbo, innovation is about finding a creative solution to an existing problem. Teaching at the university, and elsewhere in the Nigerian higher education system, is typically face to face. By creating digital content to for her students, and by making it available on the university’s learning platform, she can reach her students in new ways. Despite the advantages she sees, she says that members of the public generally do not accept that digital learning can be an effective approach to teaching.

To support the creation of digital content by staff the university has equipped a digital studio, and strives to ensure that reliable power is available. The university also organises training to enable tutors to develop their skills.

While making use of OERs where possible, Mrs Olasumbo explains that she often encounters useful resources that are behind paywalls and this is a problem. She also incurs some personal costs in producing her materials.

Simplicity is important when creating content, she says, and it is important to ensure high standards of quality and to make use of multiple media formats, to keep students engaged and to deliver learning effectively.

Interview conducted by Oluchi Okere, Federal University of Technology, Akure.