A professor of Educational Management at Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Prof. Olufunke Akomolafe, has advocated the expansion of digital skills for education in schools for development.
Akomolafe, who said COVID-19 had come as an accelerator of digital transformation in view of the way it quickened digital studies during the lockdown, urged the educational leadership sector to pay more attention to the use of ICT in teaching and learning and even in the management of information dissemination.
The don, who spoke in her inaugural lecture at EKSU titled, “Culture of Innovation: What matters”, said, “Transformation from primary to secondary school and to tertiary institutions makes the acquisition of digital skills more imperative to enable development.
“Evidence abounds that many learners and educators are unable to adequately acquire or impart knowledge or use digital devices thereby finding it difficult to adjust to the new learning situations,” she said.
Akomolafe said that innovation, which included application of digital skills, “is desirable in managing education in the face of emerging technologies to enable educational organisation to always strive for modalities to expand knowledge, create values and enhance ideas.
“The school environment is to be conducive enough for seeds of ideas to germinate and must be able to figure out the expected actions to bring about better results.
“Members of school organisations are to incorporate in their schools’ ways of life, attitudes, beliefs and values that support innovation in the development on new ideas and situations”.
She advocated training, workshops and seminars for personnel in the schools and educational system to build up culture of innovation, saying, “This helps to connect creative minds within and outside the organisation to encourage innovation.
Akomolafe also advised school administrators that as curriculum leaders, they should “provide meaningful education with relevant curriculum that can lead to growth and development, ensure effective transformation from school to work with acquisition of relevant and adequate skills and knowledge”.
