History Of Educational Technology In Nigeria

Education is the process of passing knowledge from one person to another, it is a method used to facilitate and foster learning in a learning environment.

Learning can be in various forms of learning skills, values and conducts. 

History Of Educational Technology In Nigeria

The act of taking knowledge from someone and putting it into practice is what education is basically known for. There are various types of methods used to disseminate learning, and these methods include the use of training, teaching, discussing and telling stories.

For education to take place, usually there is a facilitator and a learner, or skill master and the learner. For education to also to also take place, you need the guidance of an experienced party to put you through. Some people can educate themselves, while some cannot educate themselves, it all depends on the capacity to which one can learn.

Education can either be done formally or informally. The most common type of education is the formal type in which the students are seated in the four walls of the classroom to learn from a facilitator.

Pedagogy is known as a methodology of teaching.

Education has stages as children grow up. The first class of education is the preschool, followed by the Kindergarten, Nursery school, Primary school, Secondary school and University.

The United Nations has made education a compulsory item on the agenda list for citizens of Nigeria, and in some other countries, education is mandatory for a child till a certain age is reached.

WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?

This can be seen as all the methods, techniques and strategies used in the manufacturing and production of goods, products, and services. It is the sum total of all labor work put in a product to make it useful and consumable to the society.

Technology also is defined as a knowledge base of procedures which is put into a machine to make way for the production of products for the public. If the technology of a country is nothing to write home about, then the country is on its way to a breakdown no matter what. Technology did not always start as perfect, it is the one thing in the history of Nigeria that evolved and is still evolving.

With time, an old manual object is considered as unfit to meet the demands of the public, and so something better is produced in place of it to help consumers and the public at large to start over with new concepts and ideas.

Technology has a simple form and this is the use of basic tools. Some years back, people did not know that they could operate a machine that would help them cut all the grasses son their farmlands, but soon enough, technology took over and that problem has been solved.

Whether we like it or not, technology has helped one part of our lives for the better, and the world is on its feet today due to technology-minded people abroad who see into the future every day and know when technology needs to take another stand.

WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY?

Educational technology is defined simply as the practical aspect of learning used to improve the skills for self-use and for the use of the society at large. Educational technology also helps to improve performance and help to manage the technological processes and resources.

However, the educational technology involves all the process of learning which are mostly derived from scientific research.

BRIEF HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Educational technology in Nigeria started when teaching was simplified to the use of common known aides such as lesson notes and instructional materials. It was duly recommended that teachers at this point in time come to the classrooms fully prepared with materials there were simplified and made available for every teaching. While Nigeria was still under the British rule, the Teacher Training Colleges in 1932  was provided as the first way of communication for the Nigerian people. A radio station was built in Lagos state to promote the technology of mass media and disseminate news as quickly as possible to the masses.

This media period was between 1940 and 1950 and it was spread all over the country like a wildfire. It was adopted in Lagos state but other parts of the country began to adopt this mode of communication provided by the colonial masters. The radio programs that were put in place at that time only allowed for the English language to be spoken. However, the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) came into existence in 1951 and made its way to the top by being at the top of the educational programming station of Nigeria. Things were going quite well then 6 years later, the Nigeria Broadcasting Service (NBS), was merged together with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). This was a major progress for the Nigerian people, and the educational technology program and it was later put unto history that this initiative began in 1958.

The first program that went on broadcast collided with the Western Nigerian Ministry of Education’s Audio/Visual Center which was situated at Ibadan. Other sectors keyed into this dream and began to open up different sectors and centers that were solely based on audio/visual broadcasting. A lot of schools benefitted from this program, and soon enough another sector was put in place and it was called the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and it was established in 1982.

In the early 1950s, audiovisual centers gained voice and had its own region in Nigeria and it was used to broadcast news in English language and signs to houses all over.

A television sub-Saharan Africa came into play in October 1959, and this brought about not only change but hope for educational sectors in Nigeria. Nigeria was becoming a confident and reliable country and so many other countries thought of what they could to be like Nigeria in every way. Educational instruments and programs were put in place as part of the television programs and children and adults could learn by either seeing with their eyes or hearing with their ears. Education was fast becoming a thing of necessity, hence it was put in the constitution that this gesture was to be made free for learners no matter what.

Secondary schools, Grammar schools, and Teacher Training Colleges benefitted more from this program and soon they began to conduct smoother classes and learning periods for children and adults.

The program was used to relieve the teachers of the stress they had to go through to talk to a full class or address a number of students with their mere voices.

It also helped for teaching to come out as smoother as possible, and help to make the classrooms fit for educational activities.

It also had a very promising content as it contained a lot of curricular activities that learners had to engage in while learning.

The first federal support given to the educational technology was used to train teachers and audiovisual centers in order to gear them towards betterment.

Around 1964, three universities were built for the educational technology purpose. And these universities were;

• University of Ibadan
• Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
• Research Center for Programme Instruction Techniques which is located in Accra Ghana.

BENEFITS OR ADVANTAGES OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIA

• It has helped to foster idea sharing between teachers and learners in Nigeria

Before now, learners were only to sit down and listen to what the teachers or facilitators had to tell them without uttering a word or asking any questions. Usually, the teachers would be less prepared and come to class to give a farce in place of a lecture and the learners had to take it that way because the teachers were seen as a semi-god that knew everything and were given the advantage or upper hand to pass knowledge to the learners.

Later on, teachers with the use of educational technology began to have an interactive session with the learners whereby they communicate what they have in mind to the learners and in turn ask the learners to give their opinions or ask questions about what they do not understand or what they think the teacher has done wrong. This has helped to smoothen education in schools and helped to build a lasting relationship between leaders and facilitators.

• It helps to foster self reliance in children 

Children at a point in time did not have balance or self-reliance and could not see themselves as capable to undergo some things, but soon enough, educational technology helped these students to be self-reliant and bold in whatever it is they found themselves doing.

The children are able to sit down and read by themselves and know that they can do excellently well no matter what.

• Practical Learning 

Aside from sitting in the classroom all day to listen to a teacher talk about a particular topic, educational technology helped children to pay attention to practical examples by going out of the classrooms to participate in educational practices which have helped to foster learning and brings students to a point where they know the relevance of learning.

• It has helped to improve the skill acquisition of students 

Students are fully able to grasp and learn a particular skill and build on it, and this is only due to the emergence of educational technology in Nigeria.

Conclusion

Take your time to study through the whole write up to increase your level of knowledge. That’s all about History Of Educational Technology In Nigeria.

Related: 

• HISTORY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN NIGERIA
• HISTORY OF COMPANY LAW IN NIGERIA
• History of Central Bank of Nigeria
• HISTORY OF CIVIC EDUCATION IN NIGERIA 

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