QUALITY ASSURANCE IN NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA: CASE STUDY OF THE SOUTH WEST CENTRES
Keywords:
access, distance-learning, conventional universities, NOUN, job performanceAbstract
The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) was established with the aim of ameliorating the problem of deprivation of university admission being experienced by many candidates. The objective of giving wider access to university education will be an exercise in futility if the quality of education provided in NOUN is below standard, hence the paper explored quality assurance in National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) using the South West centres as case study. The study adopted descriptive survey design of ex-post facto type. From the selected States, 31Pprincipals, 62 Conventional University Graduate Teachers (CUGTs), 62 NOUN Graduate Teachers (NGTs) were sampled. Three validated instruments, Principals’ rating scale (r=0.87); Graduate Teachers’ Questionnaire(r=0.89); Graduate Teaching Quality Observation Scale (r=0.85); were used to gather information. Three research questions were raised and answered. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test and multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance. Observation of teacher-students classroom interactions showed that CUGTs were significantly better than NGTs in communication skills (t = 2.15%, df = 122). There were no significant differences in lesson preparation, introduction, presentation, delivery method and classroom management between CUGTs and NGTs. Employment status ( β = .08), availability of resources (β = .34), functionality of resources (β = .89), adequacy of resources ( β = .40), facilitator online interaction ( β = .94), students’ online interaction (β = .76) and access to open education resources (β = .04) had significant relative predictions on NOUN graduates’ job performance; with a joint significant prediction of F(7,1149)=549.03. NOUN impacted positively on graduates’ job performance. The study recommends that the Federal Government should make acquisition of NCE, a prerequisite for admission for a degree programme in education; Communication skills should be included in courses offered by NOUN undergraduates.
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