Engineering, education and innovation combine to develop new digital learning applications in Minna, Nigeria
Professor Musa Aibinu is a lecturer at the Federal University of Technology Minna (FUT Minna) and is also Director of the Centre for Open, Distance and e-Learning (CODeL). He is a professor of mechatronics engineering, with an emphasis on artificial intelligence, robotics and automation engineering. He has been team leader for several projects to develop digital learning tools.
FUT Minna has invested in subscriptions to a variety of authoring tools such as Slide 360 and Adobe Acrobat flash, infographic databases and video editing tools to enable staff to create content locally, explains Professor Aibinu. The University also deploys learning management systems using Moodle and has a custom learning management system designed by the university’s ICT Unit.
Professor Aibinu’s research group — the Advanced Engineering Innovation Research Group (AEIRG) — have developed a number of digital learning applications and tools.
SabiMONI is a learner-centred financial literacy training package. Its creation was sponsored by GIZ (Germany) for the Central Bank of Nigeria. The app is available on Google Play Store and offers financial literacy knowledge, tailored towards those interested in becoming certified financial literacy trainers, as well as consumers who want to improve their financial well-being.
SMESabi is another e-learning platform and mobile application which was developed to support undergraduate entrepreneurship studies. Its development was also sponsored by GIZ. The app is used for the compulsory entrepreneurship programme prescribed for Nigerian students by the Nigerian Universities Commission. Its local content makes learning more relevant to students.
The Virtual Lab for Clean Energy was developed by a joint effort by researchers from FUT Minna, Ibrahim Babangida University, Ladoke Akintola University of Science and Technology Ogbomoso and First Technical University, Ibadan, and some international partners. The group’s research is aimed at the Industry Experts Lecturing Experience Scheme (IELES), through which industry-based experts come to campus.
Another project, the LearnEnergy Learning Management System was sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering, United Kingdom.
Professor Aibinu sees innovation as doing things in a new but more effective way to solve existing problems. In his view, new ways of using technology have helped to solve access problems, enabling many more students to study at higher level, and fostering greater gender inclusion.
A large number of students seek entry to Nigerian universities each year, but insufficient space means many cannot be admitted into regular programmes. By providing online content and digital learning platforms, any number of students can be accommodated. It has also benefited to teaching staff by making instruction easier and more manageable.
There is a high level of collaboration with other distance learning programmes, explains Prof. Aibinu and sometimes the CODeL at FUT Minna shares or exchanges learning resources with other centres. All the distance learning centres in Nigeria are regulated by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) and all follow the same curriculum and model. The NUC has sponsored training and mentoring programmes facilitated by the University of London, to build the capacity of distance learning directors.
At FUT Minna, the university’s core competency is technology. It has a number of active research groups and the university has been able to attract collaborations with other institutions. These factors, a supportive working environment, and the quality of the institution’s leadership have, Prof. Aibinu believes, helped to enable staff and contributed to the university’s success.
Infrastructural challenges and internet connectivity have nevertheless caused problems for academics seeking to develop digital content at FUT Minna, and across the country, and Prof. Aibinu believes that more reliable infrastructure would encourage more digital content to be created.
Prof. Aibinu believes that capacity building, investment in infrastructure, and proper regulation of content through good e-learning policies are needed to sustain and strengthen e-learning at the institutional level, and nationally. Certification for content developers could also help to ensure quality.
Interview conducted by Oluchi Okere, Federal University of Technology, Akure.
