National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Case Study

With the revival of open and distance learning (ODL) programmes and the development of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in 2002, the concept of open educational resources (OER) gained traction in Nigeria. As part of the staff development process for NOUN, OER became one of the areas where critical capacity building activities were undertaken.  In response to the 2012 UNESCO/Commonwealth of Learning (COL) Paris Declaration on OER, NOUN initiated an OER project in 2014, which involved all faculties at the institution. The aim of the ongoing project was to integrate OER at all levels of teaching and learning at the institution to enhance the quality of and access to higher education.

NOUN is an ODL institution with more than 180,000 students.  It is Nigeria’s largest tertiary institution in terms of student numbers and runs 103 study centres across the country.  The institution’s OER portal offers access to a wide range of courses and downloadable material for educational purposes and an integrated search engine that provides multiple filters for maximum efficiency.

This case study is based on desktop research, an online survey response, an interview with Prof. Jane-Frances Obiageli Agbu who has been instrumental in promoting OER at the institution, and additional documents about the initiative provided by Prof. Agbu.