Cloud Based E-Learning Model for Open and Distance Learning in Nigerian Universities

E-Learning is becoming increasingly very important in solving higher educational need. Developed countries have been able to use ICT to establish Virtual Universities. The need for university education in Nigeria has become very glaring and year in year out the number of youth seeking admission into the Universities is increasing while only a very small percentage of those that are qualified are admitted. At present Nigeria has one single mode open University, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and six dual mode universities (Conventional Universities with distance Learning Centers recognized by National Universities Commission (NUC). Cloud based E-Learning is suitable for delivering sound and flexible education in Nigeria because, deployment of the system can be done very fast with minimum cost, it also lessen the burden of maintenance and support from the university. The Cloud based E-Learning architecture is made up of the following components, the infrastructure layer which is composed of information and infrastructure and teaching resources, Software resource layer which is mainly composed of operating system and middleware, Resource management layer is very important in achieving a loose coupling of software resources and hardware resources.