TeCETEL

Nigeria faces several issues that have made the attainment of impactful formal education difficult in recent times. Among the many problems supplanting the government's efforts at making education accessible, affordable, and of world-class quality are the following factors:

• Management of teaching and learning in environments prone to natural disaster and insecurity.
• Low proficiency rate in technology propelled teaching and learning activities.
• High cost of the extant mode of formal education delivery in the country.
• Poor international rating (visibility and attractiveness) of the nation's education deliverables.
• Interest in online games and social media at the detriment of academic engagements.
• The proliferation of fake education certificates.
• Employers lack confidence in the nation's teacher training institution's products.
• Bottle-neck bureaucracy in educational administration.

The issues listed above are recently compounded by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and different shades of insecurity in the country, such as kidnapping and banditry. Attempt to resolve these issues has necessitated a consideration of options to the conventional face-to-face classroom engagement in the teaching/learning process. Nevertheless, the extent to which Nigerians are prepared for the new norm varies. However, a common need in most Nigerian public schools is technology-enhanced learning.

The convergence of new technologies such as ICT, artificial intelligence, and robotics in enhancing knowledge for transforming economies and significantly increasing the pace of change worldwide is undisputable. The need for technology-enhanced learning to meet the various challenges identified as clogs in the wheel of educational development in the country cannot be overemphasised. Hence, the Federal Government of Nigeria did not underestimate the role that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can play in transforming businesses and governmental functions and efficiency through synthesised educational technology and formal education. The government envisioned ICT to be paramount to the future of education and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Federal Ministry of Education, 2019:1). The prospective impact of ICT on education is expected in increased access through distance learning, knowledge network for learners, training teachers and trainers, broadening the availability of quality education materials, and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of educational administration and policy (Federal Ministry of Education, 2019:2).

However, Nigeria still faces critical digital development challenges. The Nigerian Communications Commission reported that the ICT sector in Nigeria recorded growth in various subdivisions of its operations since the 1992 liberalisation; nevertheless, much is yet to be attained. The report indicates that the country has only 54,000 kilometres of backbone and middle-mile fibre deployed with significant duplication, and 2G, 3G, and 4G deployed to 89%, 75% and 45%, respectively (Nigerian Communications Commission, 2021).

The National Communications Commission official website displayed a total record of 305,381,440 connected lines; with 102.40% teledensity, 304,048,720 connected mobile lines, 218,354 fixed wired/wireless lines, and 1,114,366 Voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP), as at December 2021, (Nigerian Communications Commission, 2022). The statistics indicate high technology rating and potential for an impactful educational technology on education in Nigeria by Nigerians. These indicators are promising for a technology-enhanced learning program despite predictable technology and mobile-based challenges like cyber security.

The choice of Technology Enhanced Learning for the TETFund Centre of Excellence at Federal College of Education, Zaria, is informed by the myriad prospects of addressing Nigeria's and the continent's downside at integrating technology with education. The initiative will facilitate a quadruple helix impact on academic, government, industry, and society. It thus promises economic growth and transformation via technology enhanced education to catch up with the rest of the world. The potential and opportunity to utilise digital technologies to catalyse teacher education also align with the vision of such a Centre.

The Federal College of Education Zaria's Centre of Excellence is among the twelve TETFund Centre of Excellence inaugurated on the 24th November 2021. Its establishment is to bring to bear TETFund's paradigm shift from the traditional publication-oriented emphasis of project funding to focus on human resource development in the Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) system. In tandem with the mandate of Nigeria Colleges of Education to produce well-motivated teachers of world-class quality through high personal and professional discipline, integrity, and competence for the expanding basic education sector, the Federal College of Education, Zaria, focuses on the impactful application of Information and Communication Technology resources for pedagogical development.

The College was formerly known as Advance Teachers' College (ATC) Zaria, in the North Central State of Kaduna, Nigeria. The College has gone through many adjustments in nomenclature to meet various realities in her transitions. Nevertheless, the objective of the College to provide professionally qualified non-graduate teachers who will serve at the basic and junior secondary school levels of the country's education sector has remained constant. The College has focused on its mandate on pedagogy and education policy review on education. It has achieved an impactful milestone in developing teacher education and training of teachers.

This choice of a Centre of Excellence for Educational Technology & Enhanced Learning (TeCETEL) by the College is informed by the new realities in academia and the wider socio-economic society. The changing roles of teachers in and outside the classroom and the need for commensurate new skills for the emerging hybrid learning systems warrant the imperativeness of innovation and adaptive technology for pedagogy. The College envisaged a Centre that would become a potent medium for capacity building, technological advancement, improved organisational capacity, and an institutional hub for research in the North-West geo-political zone of the country and beyond.

The College is blessed with seasoned researchers with experience in national and international collaborative research capacity. It is expected that quality training and impactful research to solve pedagogy and educational administration challenges shall be achieved on the platform of TeCETEL.