The term Distance learning or Distance Education has been applied Interchangeably by many different researchers. To a great extent, varieties of programmes provided audiences and media distance learning.  Greenberg [1] defines contemporary distance learning as “a planned teaching/learning experience that uses a wide spectrum of technologies to reach learners at a distance and is designed to encourage learner interaction and certification of learning” (pg. 36). Teaster & Blieszner [2] says that the term distance learning has been applied to many instructional methods: however, its primary distinction is that the Teacher and the Learner are separated in space and possibly time”. Desmond Keegan [3] gives the most thorough definition. He says that distance education and training result from the technological separation of teacher and learner which frees the student from the necessity of traveling to “a fixed place, at a fixed time, to meet a fixed person, in order to be trained”. From these definitions we can see that the students and teachers are separated by space, but not necessarily by time, instructional media to learning style accommodate diverse. A recent discussion of the two terms described them as amalgam of approaches that focus   on opening access    to and training provision freeing learners from constrain of time and place and offering flexible learning opportunity to individual, and group of learners.   Distance education is also thought of as delivery of useful learning opportunities at a convenient place and time for learners. As an educational approach in which there is a quasi-separation of the Learner and the Teacher in time and space [3].

In distance education, the Teacher and the instructional strategy/methods are subsumed into the learning material popularly referred to as material that has been designed as a self-directed learning guide for the students. Noun has been saddled with the responsibility of providing distance education for members of society who find themselves in any of the following stations in life, workers who desire education to improve their skills but who cannot afford to leave their  Job, person who appear frustrated with  the bottle neck in the process of seeking admission to conventional institutions and person who began  their studies in conventional institutions but had to drop out for various reasons including loss of educational sponsors or benefactors. 

The establishment of National Open University is an alternative to conventional university educational system in several grounds. Such as providing flexible but qualitative education enhancing education for all and life longing learning, providing a wide access to education generally, but specifically University education. To achieve this, there is need for effective instructional strategy and educational resources that are adequate. Educational resources refer to all human, material, non-material audio-visual school environment and community materials available in an academic environment to facilitate school administration and simplify the teaching learning process. They also include other fundamental materials used in the school to make teaching very easy and learning more meaningful and comprehensible to the learners. Education resources cover all those materials human and non-human, drawn or photographed, built manually or electronically operated, books and all forms of related materials used in teaching and learning process.

Education resources include the teachers in the school, human beings in the community, real objects, specimen or models, chalk and display boards, school buildings and layout, the community at large and other fundamental materials like pencils, pens, exercise books etc. which the learners are expected to have at any point in time to facilitate learning. Education resources are no doubt important in the development of a conducive teaching-learning environment. The use of these resources could give more valuable and powerful   direction to the Teacher than any personal efforts without the materials adequate and efficient utilization of the available resources, the system may fail to achieve its desired results. Educational resources like computers, visual aids, library and so on tends to affect effective teaching and learning. Availability of all these facilities enhance the quality of instruction while deficiency of it affects academic performance that also have direct and immediate effect in social and achievement outcomes.

According to Ehiametalor [4] “school facilities are the operational inputs, which enable a teacher to achieve some level of instructional efficiency and effectiveness”. Emetarom [5] asserts that “school facilities can be said to be the physical and spatial enables of teaching and learning which will increase the production and attainment of desired results”. Adeogun and Osifila [6] found a significant relationship between adequacy of physical plants; and teachers’ effectiveness and students ‘academic performance. United States District of Education reports that school buildings can adequately provide a good learning environment which is essential for students’ success.  Before and during the period of this study, physical and material resources in schools observed were discovered to be inadequate and poorly equipped. Many of the school buildings were dilapidated. Also, the allocated financial resource, teaching and non-teaching staff are grossly inadequate compared with the students’ enrolment. These observed problems motivated the researcher to conduct a study   assessment of adequacy of educational resources in the implementation of distance education programme of National Open University of   Nigeria.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to access the adequacy of educational resources in national Open University distance learning program in Nigeria and to determine the effect of various schools of study on assessment of educational resources availability in National Open University distance learning.

Research Question

To what extent are the educational resources in noun adequate in implementing distance learning program? 

Research Hypothesis

The following research hypothesis has been formulated in the study:

• There are no significant differences in the mean responses of students of National Open University of Nigeria regarding the adequacy of education resources of noun for implementing distance learning program.

The investigation employed the descriptive research of the survey design.  The descriptive research of the survey design was used to determine the adequacy of instructional materials. The population for the study consists of all students of the National Open University in South West Nigeria. There are ten study centers across South West geopolitical zone in Nigeria, four in Lagos, two in Osun state, one in Ogun, one in Ondo state, one in Ekiti and one Centre in Oyo state.

The sample for the study comprised 1500 undergraduate students from five National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) study centers in south west Nigeria using proportional sampling procedure. The instrument for data collection was a self-developed questionnaire titled: Assessment of adequacy of   educational resources in National Open University of Nigeria Distance Education (AAIMNOUNDE).  The questionnaire was divided into two sections, A and B. Section A sought information on the personal data of the respondents. While Section B was designed to elicit responses from the respondents as regards their opinion on assessment of adequacy of instructional materials in National Open University of Nigeria Distance learning Programme. 

The instrument was face validated by three experts in the Faculty of Education, Ekiti State University and subsequently modified. Reliability of the Instruments was ascertained using split-half method. In doing this, the instrument was administered on respondents (students) from Ekiti state Noun study center that were not part of the sample for the study. The instrument was administered once and scores were divided into two odd and even numbers. The two sets of scores were correlated using Pearson Product Moment Correlation for the first half and Spearman Brown Prophesy Formula for the full length which yielded reliability coefficient of 0.88 which was appropriate for the study. 

Results of the study were presented based on the research questions and the hypothesis. Table 2 presents the data elicited by research question 1.

To what extent are the educational resources in Noun adequate in implementing distance learning program? 

The Decision Rule which is applicable to the results of the Research Question has a range of mean scores and their interpretations (i.e. Agreed, Disagreed) level depending on the response pattern of the questions.

Table 1: Interpretation of mean score

Table 2 shows that 831 (55.4%) respondents agreed that the number of instructors in distance learning programme is adequate for effective teaching and learning, 669 (44.6%) disagreed 512  (34.1%) respondents agreed that the course materials provided by instructors in the programme are adequate and satisfactory in meeting learners’ needs, 988 (61.8%) disagreed 672 (38.2%) respondents agreed that the regularity and timely supply of course materials in the programme are satisfactory, while 827  (61.8%) disagreed. Also 782 (52,1%) respondents agreed that library services provided for students are adequate and satisfactory, 718 (47.9%) disagreed. On whether counseling services provided for students are adequate and satisfactory,720 (48%) respondents agreed, 780 (52%) disagreed, 458 (30.5%) respondents agreed that study centers are adequately equipped and conducive for learning, 1042 (69.5%) disagreed. 

Regarding the availability of internet facilities, 780 (45.3%) respondents agreed and 720 (54.7%) disagreed, 685 (45.5%) respondents agreed that there is adequate power supply in the center 815 (54.4%) disagreed. On whether library facilities are available at the study center, 549 (36.6%) respondents agreed 951 (63.4%) disagreed, that adequate number of classrooms in the center, 345 (33%) agreed, 1155 (77%) disagreed. On whether public address system is available in the center, 511 (34%) agreed, 989 (66%) disagreed.

The result in Table 2 reveals a wide disparity between the “agree” and “disagree” responses. Using a cut-off mean of 2.50 for the rating scale, all the items had mean scores below the cut-off point. This implies that the extent of educational resources adequacy in National Open University of Nigeria Distance learning Programme is low.

Test of Hypothesis

Hypothesis: There is no significant difference in the mean response of the students in various schools regarding the adequacy of educational resources in National Open University of Nigeria distance Learning Programme.

In other to test the hypothesis, mean responses of the students in various schools regarding the adequacy of educational resources in national Open University of Nigeria Distance Learning Programme were computed and compared for statistical significance using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level. The result is presented in Table 3.

Table 3 reveals that there is no significant difference in the mean responses of the students in various schools regarding the adequacy of educational resources in National Open University of Nigeria Distance Learning Programme (F_7,1492 = 1.320, p<0.05). The null hypothesis is not rejected.

Finding from the analyses indicated that the educational resources were not adequate in National Open University of Nigeria for implementation of distance learning programme. This finding corroborated Enugu and Ojukwu (2006) and Mascon (2007) who maintained that in developing countries the growth of Open Distance Learning has been severally deterred due to the lack of technological infrastructures, negative perception of online degree and the learning and unstable social political environment.

National Open University of Nigeria no doubt is faced with the challenges of inadequate resources that would meet the need of the increasing number of learners. Facilitators are not been paid as at when due by the center directors’ office in different centers are always invaded by students demanding their course materials which are insufficient in number and unequally distributed to their centers. Students’ experiences difficulties during examination due to limited number of computers, it has to be noted that National Open University has the benefit of cost effectiveness since it can enjoy economic of scale once enough students are enrolled. The provision of adequate educational resources should not be tied to inadequate of funds rather to the administrative competence of the management.

Table 3: Comparison of statistical significance using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level

The study was conducted to assess educational resources in National Open University of Nigeria distance learning programme. The result showed that educational resources in Noun were not enough in implementing distance learning programme. It was therefore recommended that:

• Educational resources like computers must be provided for effective implementation of distance education

There should also be adequate provision of ICT facilities in distance learning computers. The provision of other instructional materials needed to facilitate teaching and learning in NOUN will enhance sustainable development in Education, Science and Technology in Nigeria

1. Greenberg, G. "Distance education technologies: best practices for K-12 settings." IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Winter 1998, pp. 36–40.

2. Teaster, P. and R. Blieszner. "Promises and pitfalls of the interactive television approach to teaching adult development and aging." Educational Gerontology, vol. 25, no. 8, 1999, pp. 741–754.

3. Keegan, D. Distance education technology for the new millennium: compressed video teaching. ZIFF Papiere, Institute for Research into Distance Education, Hagen, Germany, 1995. (Eric Document Reproduction Service No. ED 389).

4. Ehiametalor, E.T. "School facilities management practice in Nigeria." Current Issues in Educational Unilorin. edu. ng/ ejournals/ ijern/, edited by N.A. Nwagwi et al., 2001.

5. Emetarom, U.G. "Provision and management of facilities in primary schools in Nigeria: Implications for policy formulation." Paper presented at the Annual National Conference of NAEAP, University of Ibadan, 28–31 Oct. 2003.

6. Adeogun, A.A. and G.I. Osifila. "Relationship between educational resources and students’ academic performance in Lagos State, Nigeria." 5 May 2008.