Assessment of challenges in developing self-instructional course materials at the National Open University of Nigeria
The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is Nigeria’s only university dedicated to providing education through the use of distance instructional methods. So far, however, the lack of availability and poor distribution of course materials, which underpin instructional delivery at NOUN, continue to be hindrances to achieving the university’s vision and mission. There are delays and difficulties in developing and distributing materials to students and Study Centres. Many pioneer students cannot graduate because of this challenge. This paper examines the process of developing self-instructional course materials at NOUN. It reflects on the challenges associated with the quantity, quality, and timely production of course materials, labelled “the hills, the wills, and the skills” obstacles. The paper concludes that there is a need for better professional development in order to provide efficient ODL delivery.
Developing Course Materials for Open and Distance Learning: BOU Perspective
Developing course materials for Open and distance learning is a continuous process. A variety of staffs with a wide range of expertise are involved in producing a distance education course. That means a team of academics involved in distance education will be responsible to develop each program. The material development strategies for each subject is centered on the team approach to compare teaching techniques for traditional and distance learning and emphasize the need for planning and the role of each team member. Coordinator, authors, referee, instructional designers, editors (structural and style editor), graphic artists, and media specialists are included in the team. Sometimes times they meet together and to discuss and finalize the ultimate layout of a course book. This paper discusses how to design and develop distance learning course materials and how Bangladesh Open University (BOU) adopted a team approach in developing its formal programs.
Atmospheric drag effects on the KOMPSAT-1 satellite during geomagnetic superstorms
We examine the atmospheric drag on the low earth-orbiting satellite, KOMPSAT-1 in a sun-synchronous orbit at ~685-km altitude starting in 1999, during a 3-month (October-December) period in 2003. This 3-month interval includes the October 29-30 and November 20 magnetic superstorms and weak to moderate storms. We observed that the daily KOMPSAT-1 drag acceleration transiently responses to transient storm-time disturbances. That is, there is an one-to-one correspondence between the KOMPSAT-1 drag accelerations and the storm events. We find that the drag acceleration correlates strongly with the level of geomagnetic disturbance. This indicates that the trajectory of KOMPSAT-1 is significantly perturbed during extremely disturbed intervals because of atmospheric density increase. The main contributor to the density increase is Joule heating associated with the geomagnetic activity rather than the solar EUV radiation, as reported by previous studies. We suggest that understanding how the upper atmosphere responses to the geomagnetic-associated heating is important to predict space weather impacts on low earth-orbiting satellites.