Challenges and effectiveness of virtual examination in National Open University of Nigeria: A multi-centre analysis
Chinedu I. Okeke & Olugbenga T. Ajadi
Abstract
Virtual examination is becoming an essential part of improving the educational experience in open and distance learning institutions around the globe in recent years, with the goal of catering for the learning preferences of digital natives. This study identified the various challenges confronting virtual examination and investigated the effectiveness of virtual examination across all the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) study centres in the country. The study is descriptive with population of learners across all NOUN study centres in the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria as the population with a sample size of 600 selected across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria using multi-stage sampling procedure. The study found unavailability of internet connectivity as the most critical issue at the NOUN, followed by inadequate computers, low motivation for virtual examination, malfunctioning computers, lecturers’ technological skills problems, and ethical issues respectively. The study also found that virtual examination was ineffective in NOUN with a ground mean of 1.98 which was lower than the 2.5 criterion point. Inadequate empirical studies on the variables of this study in public and private open universities in Nigeria. It was not easy getting the respondents at the study centres because of the flexibility of the learning mode. Related studies could be conducted on the variables of this study in private open university in the country.
Keywords
study centres, virtual examination, effectiveness, pen-on-paper examination, computer-based test
Author information & Contribution
Chinedu I. Okeke. Corresponding author. Ph.D, Professor, Department of Education Foundations, Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, South Africa. Email: okekeco@ufs.ac.za
Olugbenga T. Ajadi. Ph.D, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Education Foundations, Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, South Africa. Email: ajagbesope@yahoo.co.uk.
“The two authors equally contributed to the conception, design, preparation, data gathering and analysis, and writing of the manuscript. They read and approved the final manuscript.”
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This work was not supported by any funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines set by University of the Free State, South Africa. The conduct of this study has been approved and given relative clearance(s) by University of the Free State, South Africa.
AI Declaration
AI tools were not used in writing this paper.
Notes
Acknowledgement
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Cite this article:
Okeke, C.I. & Ajadi, O.T. (2025). Challenges and effectiveness of virtual examination in Nigeria’s National Open University: A multi-centre analysis. International Journal of Educational Management and Development Studies, 6(3), 304-325. https://doi.org/10.53378/ijemds.353254
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