1st August, 2022

South Korea is set to assist Nigeria in the development of smart schools projects and increase the capacity of teachers in the development and use of ICT content.

According to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Korea International Co-operation Agency (KOICA) and Nigeria Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the former will also help to improve the access of teachers and pupils to quality teaching and learning materials.

South Korea is generally rated as one of the countries with the best education systems in the world in terms of the use of relevant technologies in teaching and learning and how teachers are well paid compared to other professionals.

This was made known during a visit by a team of Korean experts led by Prof Dae Joon Hwang of UBION Consortium on Dr Hamid Bobboyi, the Executive Secretary of UBEC.

Speaking during the visit. Dr Bobboyi, reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to commence operations in some of the newly constructed smart schools by January 2023.

Son Sungil, the Country Director of the Korea International Co-operation Agency (KOICA), stated that the three-man team had been in Nigeria since July 3, 2022, as part of the implementation of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between KOICA and UBEC in October 2021.

The Team Leader, Prof Hwang, thanked the Executive Secretary for the warm reception and collaboration they had received from the Commission during their stay, noting that the three pillars of the collaboration revolved around the supply of sophisticated recording and broadcasting studio equipment in some of the smart schools, content development with particular reference to Mathematics and Science, and capacity building for teachers and education managers across the country in the use of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the Blended Learning methodology.

Also speaking, during the occasion, the Co-ordinator of the Smart Schools Programme, Prof Bashir Galadanci, stated that, during their one-month stay, the Korean team of experts had extensive discussions with officials of UBEC, NERDC and NTI on the Smart Schools Programme.

They also visited the Smart Schools in Lafia, Nasarawa State and Tarda, Kano State and had discussions with the SUBEB chairmen and officials of Kano and Nasarawa states, respectively.

In addition, they participated in two workshops organised by UBEC; one for critiquing training course materials for teachers and principals of smart schools and another for developing blended lesson templates for use by the smart schools. He explained that UBEC had benefitted tremendously from their expertise and wealth of experience.

18th – 22nd July, 2022

A 5-day critiquing workshop was conducted by the Digital Resource Center, UBEC at the Newton Park Hotel, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja. The activity brought together experts on Blended Learning from academia as well as the Korean team of experts from the UBION consortium.

The workshop aimed at critiquing the training manuals for the Blended Learning materials to be developed for use in the smart schools. They included the course titles, course contents, course materials and learning outcomes for each course.
The critiquing exercise also focused on designing a template for the development of blended learning lesson plans as well as working out the modalities for developing Blended Learning digital content.

The team was also tasked with designing a work plan for content development for the smart schools.

27th – 29th June, 2022

The Digital Resource Center (DRC) organized a 3-day workshop on blended learning for the UBE Smart schools and E-learning Programmes held on 27th-29th June, 2022, at Tahir guest palace hotel, kano state.

The Blended Learning methodology, which will be utilized for teaching and learning in the Smart schools simply refers to an eclectic fusion of face-to-face teaching techniques with appropriate ICT technologies in order achieve optimal learning outcomes.

The DRC has come to the realization that this innovative methodology which will underpin teaching and learning activities in the model smart schools, is a novel concept to teachers, education managers and content developers alike. Therefore, this informed the need to familiarize the relevant stakeholders in that regard.

The recent challenges experienced in the basic education sub-sector occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, accelerated the need for new teaching and learning models that offer both teachers and learners, flexible opportunities that seek to ensure unfettered access to quality education. Consequently, the idea of integrating e-learning into the Basic Education system was set in motion. Fortunately, even before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UBE Commission had been vigorously pursuing two important programmes; the Smart Schools and the E-learning programmes, respectively.

5th – 11th June, 2022

A 5-day start-up workshop for the development of E-contents for smart schools and E-learning programmes was held in Abuja. Participants during the activity consisted of subject experts from universities, colleges of education, language villages, schoolteachers (subject-specific and specialized) selected by SUBEBs and curriculum experts from NERDC.

The workshop was targeted towards the preparation of a conceptual framework for the development of e-content for the E-Learning and Smart Schools programmes in line with the NERDC e-curriculum and the development of sample content ready for digitization. Furthermore, the experts were tasked with developing an action plan for the design, scoping, sequencing and scripting of the e-contents as well as formulation of guidelines for the development of the e-contents.

As part of the resolutions at the end of the 5-day exercise, the team is expected to reach an agreement on the modalities for the production of the e-contents.