No quality education without educational technology-Yusuf
By Mubarak Oladosu
A former Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Prof. Mudathir Olalere Yusuf, has said that there can be no quality education without the injection of elements of Educational Technology from the pre- nursery level of education up to the postgraduate level.
Prof. Yusuf made this assertion penultimate Saturday (March 14, 2026) in a chat with UNILORIN Bulletin.
He pointed out that infusion of elements of technology into education ensures that students do not only learn but that their performance is enhanced because the feild is like a dam that allows and filter Inflow of knowledge from all branches of knowledge.
While elaborating on the role of Educational Technologists, Prof. Yusuf disclosed that they design education instructional materials around playing for children, and games that are appropriate for different age categories and levels of education.
Prof. Yusuf, who is a former Director of the Computer Services and Information Technology (COMSIT)at the University of Ilorin, noted that the state of Educational Technology in Nigeria is far from what it should be partly because Nigeria abandoned the1977National Policy on Education, which was a product of the 1967 National Conference on Education.
He posited that the policy had proposed the establishment of an Educational Technology Centre in every Local Government and every state of the country in addition to the National Education Technology Centre located in Kaduna.
He lamented that the Educational Technology Centre, Ilorin, has become a shadow of what it should be, saying that the situation is typical of what has become of such Centres across the nation.
Prof. Yusuf, who is the Chairman of the University of Ilorin Muslim Community, recalled that while the Centres enjoyed government support and commercial patronage, they were pivotal in experimenting, implementing and monitoring projects in Nigerian schools which resulted in local production of instructional materials, a situation which contrasts with the current situation in which we now import instructional materials.
Prof. Yusuf noted that Educational Technology is one distinct branch of education with huge entrepreneurship prospects for its graduates apart from teaching in the classroom.
He noted that the discipline trains multimedia developers, instructional materials developers for both conventional and special education and also produce educational contents. He added that majority of the Nigerian Educational Technology alumni who are in the more developed world are not employed as teachers.
To position Educational Technology at the University of Ilorin on the international map, Prof. Yusuf appealed to the management of the University to attract competent hands in Educational Technology who are creative, and grounded in Psychology and Sociology of Education as well as in practical skills in Information and Communication Technology in addition to professionals with coding skills in order to meet the standard available in North Africa and Republic of South Africa.
