The Reliability and Legality of Online Education

Abstract

Today, the classroom beyond the border through online Open University education in Nigeria has made it possible for many students to obtain university degrees. However, the reliability and legality of such degrees have become questionable. This paper is a descriptive exploratory case study regarding the public and private sector end-users, whose views and perceptions about the significance of online degrees should be used as a basis for assessing the reliability and legality of online education. A population of 118 was considered for the most urgent responses. The main instruments that were used to gather data from the respondents for the study included the questionnaire and checklists and the data collected were analyzed using relevant statistical tools. The results obtained were subjected to Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, PPMCC. The value of the reliability(r) after computation showed the level of reliability of the test to be 0.67, but the mean rating for the legality was very low indicating a non-authentic assessment of the educational system. Some suggestions were proposed to strengthen reliability and legality of the programme.

Keywords: online education, reliability, legality, strengthening