Osang, Students Francis (2012)

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been touted as potentially powerful enabling tools for educational change and reform. When used appropriately, different ICTs are said to help expand access to education, strengthen the relevance of education to the increasingly digital workplace, and raise educational quality by, among others, helping make teaching and learning into an engaging, active process connected to real life. But with the high cost associated with access to the internet in developing countries like Nigeria, the absence of internet infrastructure in the rural communities where most of the students reside, and the need for these students to be connected to the internet for their academic activities, poses great threats to their studies and the use of ICT in Nigeria. A major interest of the study is to determine the perception of the open and distance learners on the challenges in accessing open and distance learning education through the use of internet. The study is based on interviews and focus group discussions with learners. The findings indicate that internet penetration in Nigeria especially in the rural areas is still very low. Also factors like the high cost of bandwidth, low computer literacy level as well as epileptic internet services are some of the major barriers preventing the students from accessing education through open and distance learning using the internet.