Students and Facilitators’ Perception towards Utilization of I-Learn Platform for Instruction at National Open University of Nigeria in North-Central, Nigeria

Abstract

I-learn platform is a customized learning management system (LMS) that connects a facilitator and students in a virtual classroom environment. For an efficient usage of the platform there is need to know how users (students and teachers) adopt and perceive this learning platform. Therefore, the study was carried out to investigate students’ and facilitators’ perception towards utilization of i-learn platform at Study Centres of National Open University in North Central Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Target population were all students and facilitators in the North Central States of Nigeria. A sample size of 450 (360 students and 90 facilitators) were selected using multi-stage sampling techniques. Two research instruments were used for data collection. The instruments were validated by educational technology experts. Cronbach alpha statistics was used to obtain reliability coefficient indices of the two instruments and they were found to be 0.86 and 0.74 respectively. The data collected were analyzed using Mean, Standard deviation and ANOVA. Findings revealed that students and facilitators have posit ive perception towards the utilization of i-learn as an interactive learning platform. Findings also indicated that there was no significance difference between male and female students’ perception on the use of the platform. It was recommended among others that students and facilitators should have regular training which might be in form of workshops and seminars so as to refresh their skills on LMSs usage.