Why spelling policy comes before data collection
When we started collecting text for Nigerian Pidgin, the hardest part was not the modelling. It was agreeing on how the language is written down…
Senior Lecturer · Department of Computer Science · University of Ibadan
Dr. Morgan Ellis
Building language and learning tools that work where the power doesn't.
- h-index
- 12
- Citations
- 847
- Publications
- 24
Verified · ui.edu.ng
About
Morgan Ellis is a senior lecturer in computer science with a research focus on language technology and learning systems for African classrooms. The work asks how tools built for well-resourced settings can be rebuilt for intermittent power, shared devices and low bandwidth.
Morgan leads a small group of postgraduate researchers and collaborates with teachers across southwest Nigeria. Current interests include:
- Speech and text models for Nigerian languages
- Offline-first educational software
- Assessment design for large classes
Read more on the department page.
Research interests
- Natural language processing
- Federated learning
- Educational technology
- Low-resource languages
- Speech recognition
- Learning analytics
- Offline-first software
- Assessment design
Career
- 2021
Senior Lecturer
University of Ibadan
- 2018
Lecturer I
University of Ibadan
- 2016
Research Fellow
Masakhane NLP
Education
- 2014 – 2018
PhD, Computer Science
University of Cape Town
- 2010 – 2012
MSc, Computer Science
University of Ibadan
- 2005 – 2009
BSc, Computer Science
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Projects
Principal investigator · University of Ibadan
A marking and feedback tool that works without a network connection, now used in three secondary schools.
Nigerian Pidgin news corpus
Co-lead · Masakhane
A shared corpus of news text with a written spelling policy.
Supervision
Transfer learning for Yoruba speech recognition
PhD · Main supervisor
An offline marking assistant for large classes
Master's · Main supervisor
Spelling variation in Nigerian Pidgin news text
Undergraduate · Co-supervisor
Patents
Certifications
Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
University of Ibadan
Machine Learning Specialisation
Coursera
Editorial and reviewing
Journal of African Language Technology
Associate editor
Computational Linguistics
Reviewer
TETFund research grants panel
Grant or funding panel
Affiliations
- 2020 – Present
- 2017 – Present
Association for Computational Linguistics
Member
Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria
Teaching
CSC 301Data Structures and Algorithms
2019 – Present
Core data structures, complexity analysis and practical problem solving in Python.
CSC 421Natural Language Processing
2021 – 2024
From tokenisation to transformers, with a project on a Nigerian language.
Research Methods for Postgraduates
Awards
- 2023
Best Paper Award
African NLP Workshop
- 2021
Young Researcher Prize
Nigerian Computer Society
Teaching Excellence Commendation
University of Ibadan
Grants
2024
₦12,000,000
Offline-first assessment for large classes
TETFund
Design and trial of an offline marking assistant in three universities.
2022
US$18,000
Nigerian Pidgin news corpus
Masakhane Research Fund
Lecture notes
CSC 301
Week 4: Balanced trees and hashing
- 300 Level
- First semester
- 2025/2026
- 3 units
Slides and a worked problem set covering AVL trees and open addressing.
Read the first two sections before the lecture and bring your laptop.
CSC 421
Introduction to tokenisation
- 400 Level
- Second semester
Books
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Teaching with Little: Digital Tools for Constrained Classrooms
A practical guide for lecturers who want to use technology without relying on a fast connection.
Buy this bookA Short Introduction to Language Technology
Blog
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Notes from a week of offline classroom testing
When we started collecting text for Nigerian Pidgin, the hardest part was not the modelling. It was agreeing on how the language is written down…
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What our students taught us about assessment
When we started collecting text for Nigerian Pidgin, the hardest part was not the modelling. It was agreeing on how the language is written down…
Gallery
Field visit, Ibadan Keynote at the departmental retreat Field visit, Ibadan
Events
- 14 Nov 2026
Keynote: Language technology that fits the classroom
Keynote speaker · Abuja
Opening keynote at the national ICT in education conference.
- 2 Mar 2026
Workshop on offline-first software
Organised · Ibadan
Testimonials
“Morgan made a course I expected to dread the one I looked forward to every week.”
Tunde Bello
Former student, now software engineer
“A careful collaborator who keeps the people who will use the work in the room.”
Prof. Nneka Eze
Co-investigator
Consultation hours
Monday
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Wednesday
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Contact
Office
Department secretary
WhatsApp number
Office
Room 12, Faculty of Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State
Office hours or how to reach me
Weekdays 10:00 to 12:00, or by appointment