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level of agreement or disagreement using a 5-point Likert scale (1 – almost never,
2 – seldom, 3 – sometimes, 4 – often and 5 – almost always). The questions ask
about: (1) the course’s relevance to student’s interests and professional goals,
(2) the level of critical or reflective thinking that the student applies to the material
in the course, (3) the level of interactivity the student engages in during the course,
(4) the level of tutor support, (5) peer support the student is receiving in the course,
and (6) the success of both student and tutor in making good sense of each other’s
communication. Three hundred and twenty six (326) returns from the writer’s group
of 11 departments totalling about 800 students registered online were received.
We interpret the outcome as suggesting that our experiment is succeeding, though
a lot more needs be done in the areas of peer support and interactivity, but this
represents considerable movement from near zero level.
Figure 1: COLLES survey result
Preferred Relevance Reflective Interactivity Tutor Peer Interpretation
options Thinking Support Support
Almost 629 577 324 540 285 483
Always
Often 365 410 329 418 362 393
Sometimes 246 252 497 271 476 338
Seldom 49 48 106 58 126 70
Almost 15 18 49 17 54 20
Never

Lessons learned and the way forward
We have learned that the bottom-up evolutionary process works for educational
development in our context. Of the seven higher education institutions in Nigeria
listed in the Moodle user directory, four use the VLE for distance learning as a
repository for content; one uses it for assessment only. Only in FUTA where teaching
staff own and drive the process is take-up growing in a gradual but fairly steady
rate. The tools in the VLE are a major boost for collaboration and communication,
two key things we had longed for but lacked in our practice. With their tongues let
loose, students were a source of inspiration; they knew more than we always credited
them with and had skills we knew nothing about. Teachers can be learners too and
students can help drive the process. A group of students that went through our
courses have emerged as ICT champions, giving support to other students. We have
learned that the unexpected could happen when using technology, but we were
undaunted because we had our face-to-face comfort zone as a backup when the site
crashed. Teacher workload increased rather than decreased as time was required for
professional development in IT and pedagogy, for course design, VLE management
and course facilitation. Now work has more meaning and purpose and students’
motivation gives us satisfaction.
As often happens, shut-downs of universities by government, staff or students disrupt
academic programmes. The VLE enables students to access materials and keep

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