We cannot solve 21st-century problems with old educational tools – Prof. Akanbi

2026-02-02 - 11:38

After more than a decade of work in e-learning, human capital development and instructional technology, a Nigerian-born professor, David Akanbi is pushing a bold rethink of higher education. In this wide-ranging interview, he speaks on why degrees alone are no longer enough, how digital learning has evolved, and why competency-based education could be the answer to Nigeria’s graduate unemployment crisis. He also explains the philosophy behind American Open University, recently licensed and accredited by Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC). Prof, let’s start from the beginning. How did this idea of a competency-based university in Nigeria come about? In Nigeria’s context, over a period of time, I have trained, mentored and coached about 2,000 students to help them start, advance or transition into IT careers. Along the way, even before then, I started thinking about how we could replicate this at scale: how we could have a competency-based university in Nigeria that would not focus only on degrees, but on competencies that actually help graduates build better careers after university. I started this journey about 11 years ago, going through the entire process to see how we could influence and enhance educational offerings in Nigeria, and how we could make a real, practical change: not just hype or talk but something that would truly change lives and, by extension, improve our educational output. Over the last 10 years, we planned, gathered resources, built teams and secured funding. Today, we are fully licensed and accredited by the National Universities Commission to run skill-based bachelor’s degree programmes in cybersecurity, data science, software engineering, information technology with concentrations in AI and machine learning, business administration, entrepreneurship, and more. E-learning has evolved rapidly over the last decade. From your experience, what major digital shifts have redefined how people learn and upskill today? That question is loaded, but I’ll try to unpack it. I am one of the lead professors of e-learning globally. I have two PhDs: one in human capital development, where I researched persuasive learning design, and another in instructional technology, where I focused on how emerging technologies impact learning, particularly in developing countries like Nigeria. In addition, I am an e-learning consultant to four US federal government agencies, so I speak from both academic and industry experience. One major shift is the evolution from static websites to immersive systems. Before, websites were static. Then they became interactive. Now, they are immersive, they communicate, respond, identify users and adapt to them. Because of emerging technologies, systems are now smarter, more intelligent and capable of responding faster than humans. This has made it increasingly difficult for humans alone to keep up with teaching and learning. If we rely solely on traditional educational models, we will always be 10 or 20 years behind. Digital technology allows rapid response and scalability. COVID-19 also accelerated distance and online learning globally. Another driver is changing societal needs: the demand for flexibility, autonomy and work-life balance. Technology is no longer just an enhancer; it is now the core of every industry. Whether journalism, education or business, tech is non-negotiable today. As both a university professor and an industry practitioner, how do you bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world digital skills? Ideally, there should be no gap. University education was originally designed as a safe environment for people to learn real-world skills, try, fail and master competencies before entering the workforce. The problem is that while humans have evolved, learning systems have not. We are still using old educational designs to solve modern problems. That is why there is a disconnect. The solution is to reimagine education for 21st-century needs. We cannot solve today’s problems with old tools. Curriculum development, teaching processes and assessment must all be reimagined. What we advocate is experiential learning, bringing real-life scenarios, equipment and practitioners into the classroom. Theory and practice must be combined. If a student studies banking, there should be a demo banking hall with real bankers teaching real processes. If a student studies computer science, they should be practicing what computer scientists actually do, not just learning abstract theory. When education is experiential, students graduate ready to work. Learning Management Systems are central to online education. What should organisations consider when choosing or optimising an LMS? First, organisations must understand their business need. Systems do not solve problems by themselves. A system should save time, energy and money: that is the essence of systemic thinking. Before choosing an LMS, you must ask: what am I trying to automate? What am I trying to save time, energy or cost on? The system will only work if the instructional design, curriculum and learning theory behind it are sound. You must also consider infrastructure: internet strength, latency and security. For example, lighter systems like Zoom gained dominance during COVID because they consumed less data, especially in developing countries. However, lighter systems can also come with security risks, so there is always a trade-off between efficiency and security. Risk management, instructional design capacity and infrastructure must all be considered together. Change management is often overlooked in digital training. How can e-learning support organisations navigating digital transformation? People do not really fear change; they fear loss: loss of relevance, power, income or reputation. That is why resistance happens. For digital transformation to work, change must be phased. You cannot flip a switch overnight. You need stakeholder engagement, experimentation, buy-in and incremental implementation. At American Open University, we operate in a highly regulated environment under the NUC. To manage innovation within regulation, we conducted a large-scale feasibility study involving about one million Nigerians. The data showed that degrees no longer guarantee employment, graduates face higher unemployment, 55% of graduates consider learning a trade after university, and 43% work in fields unrelated to their degrees. We also found that 95% of students and 85% of employers believe Nigerian higher education does not meet 21st-century needs. With this data, we engaged regulators constructively, focusing on the problem we wanted to solve, not attacking the existing system. That approach opened doors and made change possible. Looking ahead, which emerging technologies will shape the future of digital education? It will not be one technology, but a combination — AI, virtual reality, augmented and mixed reality, and immersive learning. AI will significantly disrupt education. There are AI tools today that can teach at a pace and clarity no human instructor can match. This presents both opportunities and challenges. That is why education must be reimagined to integrate these tools, not resist them. We also promote Universal Design for Learning: offering content in multiple formats: audio, video, text, visuals — and assessing students in diverse ways beyond traditional pen-and-paper exams. The future belongs to systems that combine technology with thoughtful human design. Finally, how is American Open University using technology to make higher education more accessible across Nigeria and West Africa? We are not using technology to teach; we are a tech university. We are the first accredited competency-based university in Africa. Our model is high-flex and built around emerging technologies. Students do not just learn; they are immersed. We operate a Learning Maturity Model where students come in at any level and graduate as experts, with industry certifications embedded into their programmes. We partner with Cisco, Microsoft and Google to embed their platforms directly into our ecosystem. All courses are project-based, and experiential learning starts from year one. By the time students graduate, they already have four years of hands-on experience. Our goal is simple: graduates should be ready to work, not ready to be trained. That is the problem we are solving, and that is why everything we do is built around technology and competency.