Educational Technology and Nigeria Education (Quiz)

**3.5. Educational Technology and the Nigeria Education** Every fresh student of a course would be eager to know how the field he/she is studying came into existence. It is often said that we need to know about the past so as to understand the present, and from that understanding predict/or plan th...

**3.5. Educational Technology and the Nigeria Education** Every fresh student of a course would be eager to know how the field he/she is studying came into existence. It is often said that we need to know about the past so as to understand the present, and from that understanding predict/or plan the future. In order to appreciate the present status of educational technology and its emerging trends for the future, we need to trace how educational technology evolved as a field and how it has developed in Nigeria. The history of educational technology is closely linked with the technological trends and the ever-increasing link with the development in the sphere of science and communication technology (NOUN, 2010). This unit will trace the history of education technology, the evolution of educational technology in Nigeria, its present status, problems facing it and the future trends. It should be noted however, that at the end of this unit, you should be able to: 1. Describe how philosophers, psychologists and technological inventions contributed to the development of educational technology. 2. Trace the development of modern educational technology from the visual instruction movement to the behavioral science concept of educational technology. 3. List contributions that the behavioral science concept of educational technology has made to the development of tile field and its practices. 4. Identify the milestones in the development of educational technology in Nigeria from the colonial era to the present day. 5. Discuss the contributions of the following to the evolution of modern educational technology in Nigeria: (a) International Organization (b) Nigeria Universities (c) Broadcasting Organizations. 6. Explain how the National Educational Technology Centre evolved. 7. List the functions of the National Educational 'Technology Centre. 8. Sate the objectives of Educational Technology postulated by various authorities and as it is reflected by the National Policy on Education 9. Discuss the functions of educational technology in formal and non--- formal settings 10. Discuss the constraints militating against the development of educational technology and suggest ways of overcoming each of the problems. **3.5.1. Historical Development of Educational Technology in Nigeria** In discussing the trends of Educational Technology in Nigeria, it is worthwhile to trace the history of Educational Technology which is as old as the history of education. As education developed, more effective and efficient means of instruction progressively developed also. Right from the Stone Age, man has sought ways of improving the educational enterprise. The use of visual materials dates back to the Stone Age period. Where visual aids such as stones, pebbles, sticks and cowries were used to enhance effective communication and learning. However, the Egyptian Hieroglyphics (visuals) marked the beginning of writing. The Sophists who lived in Athens in about the last half of the 5th Century BC were probably the first educational technologists. It is believed that their lectures were carefully prepared and delivered in a systematic manner as instructions were done together with visual aids. They were also believed to be the first people to develop techniques of analysis in teaching. Philosophers like Socrates (479-399 BC), Plato, Thomas, Aquinas and Aristotle dealt with issues relating to the right and methods of instruction, the sequence to be followed and the evaluation to be adopted. The Socratic method of carefully structuring questions and answers is well known. It included short organized units of instruction directed toward, specific objectives and tailored towards an individual student's interests and abilities. Aristotle considered note taking as an essential part of learning process. Both him and Socratic viewed learning as an active and individual process based on objective and structured learning environment. A significant turning point in the history of educational technology came in the year 1450AD when a German John Gutenberg invented a printing press. His invention gave birth to books, revolutionized the communication process and increased accessibility to recorded information. Progressively many other inventions of different sorts of multimedia and computers contributed to the evolution of educational technology. In summary. Imogie (2002) identified the following trends in the history of modern educational technology; 1. Visual instructional movement. This emphasizes the use of visual materials with instruction to concretize ideas, facts. etc. 2. From visual instruction to Audio-visual instruction 3. From audio visual instruction to Communication where emphasis began to shift from devices and materials to the process of communicating information from source (teacher) to receiver (learner). 4. From audio visual to early systems concepts; this is a process whereby an emphasis was on the identification and integration of components of system with a view to increasing system efficiency. At this stage, audio-visuals were seen as products to be arranged and integrated in such a way as to solve identified instructional problem and achieve specified objectives. 5. From early system concepts to Audio Visual Communications; this emphasized on planning, production, selection, management and utilization of the components of the entire instructional system. Learning process was given proper and adequate attention as well. 6. The Behavioral science concepts of educational technology, this emanate from EL. Thorndike and Skinner whose theories postulate that learning which can be seen in changed behavior is strengthened via reinforcement. 7. The system approach, which has its origin in the United State of American (USA) Air force, is a sophisticated engineering concept that was used to develop weapon system. The system approach requires that a problem be identify, clearly specified, broken down into its components and examined to see the interrelationships of the elements before proffering solutions. It requires a holistic view for proffering holistic solution to the problem. The impact and influence of the system (behavioral science concepts) approach on educational technology can be summarized as: 1. It shifted the emphasis from products to the process of instructions. 2. It encouraged the application of research results to the design of instruction. 3. It encouraged holistic approach to educational problems by re-emphasizing the view of educational enterprises as a system with sub-systems that are intrinsically related. 4. It encouraged the development of procedures and methods for identifying and analyzing educational problems and for finding solutions to them. 5.. It encouraged the development of procedures and strategies for effective and efficient utilization of ideas and resources to improve quality education. The evolution of educational technology in Nigeria can therefore be traced back to the colonial era when managers of voluntary educational agencies advocated and emphasized on the production and use of simple learning materials known as teaching aids. Trainee teachers and practicing ones were expected to improvise and use representational material such as picture, maps, models as well as real objects such as local seeds, plants, scenes, etc. for the purpose of illustration during teaching to explain abstract ideas/facts and to concretize and internalize learning. In 1930, the colonial government promulgated the first education ordinance which provided that schools should have adequate leaching apparatus. In 1933, in addition to local and low cost materials in schools, the then British Broadcasting Corporation embarked on the transmission of the first educational programme in its West African overseas service, especially for English language at least once in a week. Later the broadcasting service in 1951 was established in order to promote the broadcasting of educational programmes. Towards the end of the 1950s, the Nigeria regional government established schools broadcasting units in their respective regions using the facilities of Nigeria Broadcasting Service (NBS). In 1961, each of the regional government had a radio-television station which transmitted programmes on various subjects. Between 1959 and 1962, Audio-Visual Centers were established by United State agency for International Development (USAID) in the former regions of Nigeria. These Audio-Visual Centers eventually formed the nucleus of the present educational resource centers in different states, later changed to units in the Ministry of education The founding of modern educational technology in Nigeria may be traced to the contributions, support and expert advice from international organizations such as the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO), Centre for Educational Development overseas (CEDO) in Britain. USAID, etc. These bodies assisted the ministries of education in the three regions in establishing audio-visual units and schools, broadcasting units. They also assisted universities and other institutions of higher learning tremendously in establishing their audio visual units e.g. the Audio-visual aids units of the institute of education, university of Ibadan (1962), the comparative education studies and adoption center (CESAC), the Curriculum Development and Instructional Materials Center (CUDIMAC) of university of Nigeria Nsuka; the audiovisual units of the College of education, Owerri, to mention a few. Not only did these organizations give materials, financial and expert support, they also infused into the educational system the idea of proper identification of educational problems, the statement of objectives, logical sequencing and integration, evaluation and research. They contributed greatly to program learning methods and application which is a by-product of instructional technology.