Assessing the Use of e-Learning for Higher Education: A Cross-sectional Study of Nigerian Students’ Perspectives

Abstract

The architecture of a learning system implies a heavy task for e-learning to be integrated into a complicated system that is flexible, time scalable, and capable of lasting, even when there are many diverse tools. Currently, higher education in Nigeria is experiencing a major transformation, considering increased accessibility. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning in higher education in Nigeria. A cross-sectional study design deploying both quantitative and qualitative approaches was used to randomly select samples from students of both the College of Education, Moro and the affiliated Ambrosse Alli University, Ekpoma located on the Foreign Links Campus, Moro, Ife North, Osun State, Nigeria. The two groups of students were enrolled for the 2021/2022 academic year. A close-ended structured questionnaire was constructed to collect quantitative data while two interview questions were used to collect qualitative data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data collected. Eighty-one percent of the students stated that e-learning provided scientific materials in an interesting way, while 80% responded that e-learning increased the possibility of contacts between students among themselves and between the students and their lecturers. Seventy three percent of the students indicated that due to increasing social isolation, they spent more time in front of the technical means for social interaction account and face to face with others. Seventy percent of the subjects indicated that there was a presence of electronic illiteracy among parents, which reduced their abilities to follow their children electronically. It is essential for potential e-learners to understand the differences between an e-learning classroom setting and a conventional classroom setting as there are advantages and disadvantages of e-learning in the two environments that could probably influence their overall performances as students.