Quality Assurance of OER/eLearning

30 November – 4 December 2015

For one of our last events for the year we turning our attention to quality assurance aspects of e-learning and Open Educational Resources. This seminar is led by Ephraim Mhlanga from the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE).

Thank you to those of you who took part in our live online session on Wednesday 2 December. Recording is available here

From our presenter we have received the following abstract:

The advent of educationally technologies has profoundly changed the way people learn and how education is generally delivered. In higher education in particular teaching and learning is now heavily supported by education technologies which make it more cost-effective to support learners in a virtual space. Educational technologies free education from the constraints of time and space that go with face-to-face teaching, and that offers great flexibility in terms of when, where and how to learn. Whilst this is a positive development that many higher education institutions are investing in, there are major challenges that are associated with the quality of such delivery. Particularly in the Third World, the comparative quality of online programmes is still a moot point.

This presentation gives hints on quality aspects that should be considered in using technology in teaching and learning. It draws from previous work done with African universities and from Gilly Salmon’s work on how learners learn online, and builds some quality benchmarks worth considering in the design and delivery of online courses.

This event has ended, however resources will remain available on the seminar landing page

Ephraim Mhlanga is a Programme Specialist: Quality Assurance at the South African Institute for Distance Education

 

 

e/merging Technologies From M to Seamless learning

23 November – 27 November 2015

In our series of seminars on how emerging technologies are changing the learning practices we are pleased to announce our upcoming seminar From M to Seamless Learning which will be led by Professor Martin Ebner from the Technical University of Graz, Austria. Martin who has worked in the edcuational technology field for years with research focusing on emerging digital technologies and MOOCs. This event will be supported by Dr. Nicola Pallitt from the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at the University of Cape Town. We will be starting the week with an asyncronous discussion on the role of emerging technologies in changing teaching and learning environments. On Wednesday 25 November at 2 pm (GMT+2/CAT) Professor Martin Ebner will give his presentation From M to Seamless Learning and followed by a discussion in the Adobe Connect session and in the discussion forum. We hope to get some of our previous presenters together for a panel like discussion. In the meantime please sign up for this free event below.

Professor Martin Ebner is a researcher at the Technical University of Graz, Austria with a specific focus on e-Learning, m-Learning, Social Media, Educational Datam Mining and Open Educational Resources

 

Challenges and Enablers of eLearning Policy Implementation in Vocational Training Institutions in Zambia

16 November – 20 November 2015

From Zambia Gabriel Konayuma will present a study on implementation of elearning policies and the challenges/enablers faced. Please sign up for this seminar below.

Thank you to all taking part in Gabriel Konayuma’s online live presentation Wednesday 18 November. Recording is available here

This paper investigates the enablers and challenges in the implementation of e-Learning policies in three vocational education institutions in Zambia. A total of seven individuals i.e. two managers and five lecturers in the study were interviewed.
The study found that e-Learning was described as having some specific characteristics and also the use of devices. It was also found that respondents had varying levels on the knowledge of national e-Learning policies. The challenges of e-Learning policy implementation were stated as: inadequate and lack of devices, lack of adequate skills, poor attitude and poor support services. Enablers for e-Learning were: learning facilitation, teaching facilitation, communication improvement and training.
The study recommended increased partnership with international organisations and stakeholders in strengthening e-Learning policy implementation, a focused roll-out of e-Learning policy implementation in vocational education institutions, the ministry creating an enabling environment for sharing of good and best practices in e-Learning implementation.

This seminar has ended, however resources will remain available on the seminar landing page

Gabriel Konayuma Ministry of Higher Education, Government of Zambia