By Millicent Ifeanyichukwu

A Professor of Educational Technology at the Lagos State University, Silas Egbowon, has urged establishment of educational technology centres in tertiary institutions to achieve set goals.

Egbowon made the call on Tuesday while delivering the 102 Inaugural Lecture of the university, at its Ojo campus.

The lecture had the theme, ‘Educational Technology: The Uninformed, the Misinformed and the Informed’.

Egbowon lectures in the Department of Science and Technology Education, Faculty of Education, LASU.

“Establishment of educational technology centre in tertiary institutions will help in developing resources for learners with disability and ensuring accessibility to education through technology,” he said.

The lecturer also said that such a centre would ensure installation and maintenance of smart classrooms and offer assistance to lecturers in packaging online courses and organising/updating digital materials for ease of access.

“It is also important to note that it does not throw people out of jobs; rather, it enhances their productivity on the jobs and saves their time; hence, the need for it to be embraced,” he said.

He said that the educational technology centre should be saddled with capacity building of staff and students to enhance digital literacy.

Egbowon emphasised the importance of training and skill development.

He, however, said that although technology had transformed learning through integrating digital tools and resources into teaching, there were challenges that limited its potential.

The lecturer listed the challenges to include infrastructure challenge, privacy and security concerns, resistance to change, and ethical and social issues.

The professor called on the institution’s management to expand its radio programme to include slots for educational broadcast.

“Lecturers should embrace creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration,” he said. (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Ijeoma Popoola