Varsity don advocates for use of multimedia, internet for intellectual purposes

Samuel Onasanya, a professor of Educational Technology, University of Ilorin, has stressed the use of ICT in enhancing intellectual and development of the nation in a rapidly changing global environment.

Onasanya, who stated this while presenting the 185th Inaugural Lecture of the University titled, ‘From the Slate Boards to the Webb: Paradigm Shift in Educational Resources Deployment’, advocated the use of multimedia and internet for intellectual purpose.

The use of interactive multmedia and hypermedia instructions, according to him, encourages individualistic teaching and learning, as he posited that the E-learning was now widely hailed and synonymously associated with more effective and efficient learning outcomes.

According to Onasanya, research has shown that developed and evaluated virtual laboratory packages for Physics and Biology is adequate and effective for the teaching and learning of selected concepts in Physics and Biology.

The inaugural lecturer, therefore, advised the government and non-governmental organisations to endeavour to procure adequate digital learning tools and technologies at all levels of Nigeria’s educational system, saying, this will help the country to compete favourably, academically with their counterparts globally.

The don also urged students to explore the opportunities offered by the virtual Physics and Biology laboratory packages for revision purposes as well as for individualised learning experiment.

“Investigations shown that multimedia can help in sports for facilitating the speedy acquisition of professional motor skills and experiences via monitoring of various styles and techniques.

“The educational technology programme in higher institutions in Nigeria should be redesigned with emphasis on repackaging of both teachers and students to learning via the deployment of digital learning tools such as the google classroom, socrates prezi, class dajo and computer graphic tools for subsequent deployment in future classrooms,” he said.

Onasanya, however, observed that despite the numerous advantages of using the social media by students, there are perceived side effects of using it, such that can lead to isolation and addiction that may significantly affect productivity, interpersonal and personal behaviour of youths.