WhatsApp is being used across African Higher Education Institutions for teaching and learning activities in a variety of innovative ways. Join Unity Chipunza (Bindura University, Zimbabwe) and Nicola Pallitt (University of Cape Town) as they share their experiences of using WhatsApp with students in their contexts and facilitate discussion. We want to hear from you too – we invite you to share your practices, tips, challenges and successes. Tell us what’s up in your WhatsApp:)

Tuesday 12 December 2017 at 1 – 3 pm SAST

Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com

Before the chat:

1. You are invited to join Whatsapp group ahead of time as you will not be able to access the discussion and media shared in the group before you joined https://chat.whatsapp.com/LGlZMP08741EZIjnkQpabH  Joining this group will be your way of signing up.
2. Please view the introductory stimulus here:
   

During the chat:

As WhatsApp can be quite a messy space for discussion. Conversation will happen in stages, guided by 1 question at a time:

Q1: How have you been using WhatsApp with students in your context? (first 30 mins of the chat)

Q2: What motivated your choice to use WhatsApp? (15 mins)

Q3: What do you think your students learn through interaction with their peers and/or lecturers in WhatsApp groups for their courses? (15 mins)

Q4: What are some of the challenges you and your students encounter when using WhatsApp with students? (15 mins)

Q5: Do you have examples of particular practices that work well? (15 mins)

Q6: Imagine you have a colleague who is going to use WhatsApp with students for the first time – what tips would you give them? (15 mins)

Q7: Please share your reflections about this chat (15 mins)

* Please do not share irrelevant info or use people’s contacts for marketing purposes. If you wish to correspond with the e/merge Africa team, email us at [email protected]

* Feel free to post images, screenshots, videos, voice notes, documents – any media that helps you to participate in the discussion more fully.

* By participating in the group you are consenting to research about the use of WhatsApp for professional development by members of e/merge Africa.

After the chat:

• Activities in the WhatsApp group will be recorded for research but not shared publicly. Instead, we will provide a summary of the discussion where individuals’ contributions are acknowledged. Depending on contributions, we will harvest collective responses to create an OER.
• Once the chat has ended, group members are welcome to stay and extend the conversation. What happens next is up to all of us:) The group administrators will not delete the group.