The National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) says it is leveraging technology to improve teacher education, institutional governance, and quality assurance across colleges of education nationwide. 

The Executive Secretary of NCCE, Dr Angela Ajala, stated this in Abuja on Monday at the opening of a four-day training for the workforce on the Blackboard learning management system (LMS) and illuminate analytics. 

Mrs Ajala explained that the blackboard LMS and the illuminate analytics platforms provide the architecture through which the commission could have real-time visibility into activities within institutions.

She added that the platforms would help the NCCE make informed decisions to improve the quality of teacher education in Nigeria.

She described the training with the theme, “Enhancing Digital Competencies for Effective Learning Management and Executive Productivity,” as a major investment in workforce development.

She added that the move was also to modernise the commission’s regulatory functions in line with global standards.

According to her, the initiative is designed to equip staff with the digital skills required to effectively utilise technology, internet resources, digital tools and learning management systems for teaching, learning, administration and decision-making.

‎”The commission’s mandate of setting standards for teacher education in Nigeria requires innovative and technology-driven approaches capable of meeting contemporary educational demands.

“Also, the quality of teacher education remained critical to improving teaching and learning outcomes across the country,” she said.

The executive secretary explained that the traditional model of monitoring colleges of education through periodic visits and accreditation exercises was no longer adequate in a rapidly evolving digital environment.

‎She said the deployment of blackboard LMS and illuminate analytics would enable the commission to transition from periodic supervision to continuous, real-time monitoring of academic activities in colleges of education nationwide.

‎Mrs Ajala added that the platforms would provide the commission with the capacity to track curriculum implementation, lecturer engagement, student participation and learning outcomes while identifying areas requiring intervention.

She commended the programme facilitators and partners, Pole Global Marketing and Anthology, for supporting the commission’s digital transformation efforts.

Adebayo Wale, the director of Pole Global Marketing and Anthology, said the collaboration with the NCCE was inspired by the executive secretary’s vision to strengthen supervision and quality assurance across colleges of education.

According to him, the deployment of the technology will provide the commission with enhanced oversight capabilities, access to real-time institutional data and improved decision-making processes.

‎Mr Wale added that the platforms would facilitate more effective monitoring of academic activities and strengthen the commission’s capacity to drive reforms in colleges of education nationwide.

He explained that ‎blackboard LMS would serve as a central platform for learning materials, assessments, communication and academic records, and illuminate analytics would provide data-driven insights to support strategic planning and performance evaluation.

 (NAN)