Social Media Adoption by Nigerian Universities – How have they fared?

Please notice new dates: Monday 12 October – Friday 16 October 2015

This is a one week seminar and our programme for the week will look the following:
Monday 12 October: We will provide access to a landing page on our live-site with presentation resources and a discussion forum.

Wednesday 14 October: Olufemi Oludodun will host a one hour online live session via Adobe Connect, where Olufemi will give a 30 minute presentation with a subsequent opportunity to ask questions and engage with our presenter. We have scheduled this session for Wednesday 14 October at 1 pm (Central African Time): This is:

11 am in Accra
12 pm in Abuja
1 pm in Cape Town
2 pm in Nairobi

More information on how to join this live session via Adobe Connect will be provided soon.

Friday 16 October: Last day of the seminar. Landing page and discussion forum will remain open beyond this week.

 

Olufemi Olubodun

The increasingly pervasive use of social media has changed the ways that individuals and institutions relate, communicate and share knowledge, with both positive and negative effects. In order to enhance their online visibility and presence universities have focused on a few large social networks. This study by Olufemi Olubodun Assistant Chief Technologist in the Faculty of Dental Sciences at University of Lagos, Nigeria, examines the presence, usage and visibility of social media on Nigerian university websites. The social media sites of institutions in Nigeria were compared to those of institutions in Europe and America in order to answer questions about the use, impact and prospects of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn.

This seminar has ended, please refer to the seminar landing page

Teachers and Students’ Perceptions of the Use of Mobile Technology to Facilitate Teaching and Learning

21 – 25 September 2015

Our next online seminar will be presented by Dr. Paul Nyagorme, University of Cape Coast, Ghana and Kafui Aheto, who is currently a doctoral candidate at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa. They will share their findings from a study on perceptions of mobile technologies as a facilitator for teaching and learning. This seminar includes a live online meeting and asynchronous discussion and is free of charge.

Please join us for a live online presentation Wednesday 23 September at 3 pm (GMT+2) – This when it’s 1 pm in Accra, 2 pm in Abuja, 3 pm in Cape Town and 4 pm in Nairobi. To join, please follow this link to the Adobe Connect Meeting Room. At the prompt, please choose Sign in as Guest – then provide your name in the text field and choose Enter Room.

“The purpose of this study was to find out the perceptions of students and teachers towards the use of mobile technology in the teaching and learning process. Descriptive research methodology was used for the study. In all, 375 respondents participated in the study. They were made up of 300 students and 75 teachers selected from senior high schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis. Structured questionnaire was the main data collecting instrument. The study found that majority (84.7%) of the students in Cape Coast Metropolis had mobile phones as compared to those with personal computers and the majority (73.0%) of the students also had their mobile phones with them very often than their personal computers. The study also found that more than half of both the teachers and students also indicated that they would like to use mobile devices to support their teaching and learning. The study recommended a model for teaching and learning using mobile technology tools. It was recommended that school administration should organize in-service education and training (INSET) on mobile devices and technologies for teachers and students.”

Dr. Paul Nyagorme University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Kafui Aheto Doctoral Candidate at Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Online Facilitation Course – October – November 2015

facilitating online

We invite applications from educational technologists and educators based in African Higher Education Institutions to participate in a free five week course in online facilitation funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. A maximum of 50 participants can be accommodated.  Course participation will be entirely online and will require up to 8 hours of participation per week. Facilitating Online was developed by the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) at University of Cape Town and is registered as a short course at the University of Cape Town.  A certificate of completion will be awarded for successful completion of 75% of the assessed activities of the course.

Application for the October – November run of this course will be open until 18 September 2015. We are also planning to offer further instances of the course during 2016. Please contact us on facilitationcourse@emergeafrica.net if you would like more information or for us notify you when registration opens for the 2016 courses.

Target participants

The course is aimed at experienced educators at higher education institutions in Africa who have reliable internet access and the opportunity to run courses or components of their courses online.  Selection criteria include:

  • previous experience of online teaching and learning
  • at least five years’ experience as a university educator or educational technologist
  • willingness to teach future online facilitation courses in their local/regional context or
  • willingness to be a conference host for the e/merge Africa online educational technology network across African universities.

All applicants will require a letter of support from their line manager or Head of Department.

To apply, please use our online application form by 18 September 2015

Course Facilitators:

Esther Gacicio is an Assistant Director in eLearning at the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE)

Khanyisile Ngodwana is a Writing Centre Coordinator at Walter Sisulu University and a Tutor for UNISA Language and Study Skills and Workplace English courses

Nicola Pallitt is an Educational Technologist in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at University of Cape Town

Nompilo Tshuma is a Learning Technologist at Rhodes University in South Africa.

Course Convenor:

Tony Carr is an Educational Technologist in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at University of Cape Town and Convenor of the e/merge Africa network.

Deadlines and course schedule

The course schedule includes reflection time and takes account of the complex and busy lives of participants by building in a break of a week after each fortnight of course activity.

5 October – 9 October: Week 0 (Entering site, addressing technical issues, introductions)
12 October – 16 October: Week 1
19 October – 23 October: Week 2
26 October – 30 October: Consolidation Week 1
2 November – 6 November: Week 3
9 November – 13 November: Week 4
16 November – 20 November: Consolidation Week 2
23 November – 27 November: Week 5

Enquiries

You can address queries by e-mail to facilitationcourse@emergeafrica.net .