Trends in Using Social Media as Substitute for Class Interaction in Open & Distance Learning (Odl) Education in Nigeria

Abstract

Open and distance education has been instrumental in eliminating the challenges in education beyond classrooms as well as redefining school age limit by absorbing not only the working class into schooling but also the neglected segment. of the population. The ideal mass education to improve literacy rate, which has been identified as one of the focal bases for both economic and social development has shown sign of improvement both in structure, implementation as well as outcome through the ODL education system in Nigeria. The attainment of what was earlier perceived impossible in Nigeria’s education system could be referenced to access, availability and increase in social media use – the challenge that was first dealt with to make mass literacy through ODL system an easy task. Using historical method, this study followed the trends in the actualization of ODL goals in Nigeria and how social media has been instrumental in achieving the task. It was found that social media use was evident in the system, thus suggesting that radical implementation of skill acquisition platform that enhance social media use will provide a solid foundation for improved ODL education. However, major challenges discovered included unreliable electricity supply, poverty and its attendant drawbacks and the impact of negative socio-cultural influences.