“Lectures can be received from anywhere”- Director, Distance Learning Institute.

The Director of Distance Learning Institute, Professor Uchenna Udeani has praised the capacity of the existing facilities of the institute to  revealed that lectures can be received from anywhere because the classes are virtual and physical. 

 She stated this in an interview with Unilag Sun where she stated that the programmes are on the blended platform which allows students to be able to take lectures anywhere at their convenience .

“These are the programs that are on the blended platform. Blended Platform is ICT enabled, this means face to face and online,”

“It is an Open Access Distance Learning. Open Access Distance means that access is expanded…If I am having a lecture online, it means that I can access it from anywhere in the world, the restriction of coming for the lecture is free, you can access any material, synchronize as it is been taught and you can pick it up at any time, the location you can find yourself,” she said.

Furthermore, she stated that these  programs are driven by the Learning Management System, otherwise called Self Learning Materials. It is made in a way that all the self-learning materials including modules and PowerPoint of the lecturer are all deposited on the LMS for an individual course. 

“Online is driven by the LMS(Learning Manager System) and what we call the Self Learning materials because they are made in such a way that it is self-learned, as you are reading it you can learn, that is why it is called self-learning materials,” she stated  

Uchenna added that the program is open to everyone regardless of their marital status and occupation. 

Responding to the question on the development made since her appointment,  the Director stressed that there has been an increase in student population and addition of better infrastructure facilities. 

 “We have also been able to increase the student population. We have been able to increase our facilities. A lot of infrastructure has been included,” she stated.

  “LMS has also been upgraded to the latest module and we just acquired a 150kvA generator. We have done a lot of training for staff so that the staff will be able to meet with the global level. In addition to that, we have intensified the skill of students in order to be able to use LMS. 70% of the lecture are on the LMS so we need to transform our students.”

 Udeani expressed gratitude to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos saying “We will give a lot of thanks to the Vice Chancellor because without him we can not do Distance Learning, it may have been abandoned, because we need an enhanced element, digital tools to be able to run successful programs.”     

In response to the recurrent ASUU strikes, she remarked that the Distant Learning Institute isn’t affected by the strike because “lectures are uploaded on the LMS.”

The Director of DLI  also reiterated that the program is not inferior to Unilag’s Bachelor’s degree saying  “we want the public to know that it is elective, it is your choice to do their Distant Learning or Physical class so we are really catching up for people who may have lose their chance in education.”