Date and Time: Tuesday, 6 October 2020; 3:00pm SAST/ 9:00am CBT

Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com

Presenter: Dr. Angela D. Benson is a professor of instructional technology in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Technology Studies at the University of Alabama. Her research addresses the role of culture in technology-mediated learning environments. She has given more than 50 presentations and published more than 40 academic publications related to distance and online learning. In addition, Dr. Benson has  taught a variety of educational technology courses delivered in a variety of formats. Her professional experience includes thirteen years as a systems engineer in the telecommunications industry. She holds undergraduate degrees in Math and Industrial Engineering, master’s degrees in Operations Research and Human Resource Development, and a doctorate in Instructional Technology.

She has published more than 40 academic publications and presented more than 50 academic presentations, primarily addressing issues of power and politics in online learning environments. She regularly teaches courses in instructional technology foundations, instructional design, online course development, software development and technology management. She has also facilitated more than 50 educational technology workshops for higher education faculty and staff, including a recent session with 30 Chinese scholars in Shenyang, China. Dr. Benson is one of the editors of the book, Culture, Learning and Technology: Research and Practice, and President of the Culture, Learning and Technology Division of AECT.

Dr. Benson was serving as a Fulbright Scholar in the Faculty of Education at the University of Namibia in Windhoek, Namibia from January 2019 – June 2020.  Follow her journey on Facebook. Description: This session will look into the commonalities between the USA and Namibia in EdTech response to COVID-19 and the common challenges both countries face with serving marginalized communities.  The webinar will compare how EdTech is deployed and used in University of Namibia (UNAM) and at the University of Alabama.  It will highlight the rationales for the decisions made and the focus will be on how we are alike and face similar challenges even from different settings and institutions.

This event has ended – please refer to the e/merge Africa YouTube channel for a recording (upcoming)

Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com

Session Type: 1 hour Webinar 

Date: Wednesday 24  March 2021; 2:00pm SAST 

Description of Webinar: 

While online supervision is an emerging practice in African universities, there was already a need for more flexible forms of postgraduate supervision prior to the pandemic. Developing online supervision skills has become increasingly important for academics supervising postgraduate students. 

This webinar aims at discussing some of the challenges and approaches to supervision of students’ theses and dissertations during and beyond the Covid19 pandemic. We will focus on our diverse experiences of supervising postgraduate students in three African universities as well as drawing on data from both supervisor and student experiences of supervision during the pandemic.

In conclusion, the facilitators will highlight what has worked for them and propose recommendations for improved postgraduate supervision online. 

Facilitated by: 

Dr. Nompilo Tshuma: Researcher and Lecturer in Educational Technology at the Centre for Higher and Adult Education at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She has been working with educational technology since 2005 as both a lecturer and an academic developer. In her current role she is the institutional coordinator for a regional PG Diploma in Higher Education. She also teaches modules in the Centre’s two MPhil programmes and supervises Masters and PhD students. As a critical educational technology researcher, she uses social and critical theories to explore the context and politics of higher education, and their impact on educational technology practices. Nompilo is currently supervising both Masters and PhD students, and is also involved in research on doctoral education. Her presentation will focus on the results of a survey administered to postgraduate students at three South African universities during the 2020 lockdown period. The data presents both the disruptive and enabling environment presented by the pandemic and the role of technology in mediating the supervisory relationship.

Prof. Karen Meyers-Ferreira: is the Coordinator Modern Languages/Linguistics of the Institute of Distance Education at the University of Eswatini.  She obtained various qualifications: MA Romance Philology (French-Spanish), Honours Portuguese, Post-Graduate Diploma Translation (French-English-French), MA Linguistics, LLM Degree (Legal aspects of new technologies), PhD in French (feminine Francophone autofiction). She has published a monograph on Francophone autofiction, several articles (autofictional feminine writing, crime fiction, 20th and 21st Francophone, Anglophone and Lusophone African authors, distance and e-learning), participates regularly in international conferences and is a keen translator and interpreter. Karen undertook research for the DIES/CREST online course for doctoral supervisors and will share what doctoral supervisors experienced during the Covid19 pandemic, in particular between March and September 2020. Personally, she supervised one MA and one PhD student in the same period.

Dr. Nicola Palitt: Coordinates the efforts of the Educational Technology Unit in the Centre for Higher Education Research,Teaching and Learning (CHERTL) at Rhodes University and offers professional development opportunities for academics to use technologies effectively in their roles as educators and researchers. Nicola supervises postgraduate students and co-teaches on formal courses in Higher Education. She enjoys meeting EdTech practitioners and researchers from across the globe. Nicola has been supervising postgraduate students online before the pandemic. At the moment she is supervising a Masters student and co-teaching an online doctoral programme as part of a supervision team. The supervision team meets regularly to discuss feedback from students and incorporate insights into their programme. Nicola will share her experiences of different approaches to supervision (one-on-one vs. group) and what is involved when more flexible forms of postgraduate supervision are taken online.  

Language: Please note seminar language is English  

Twitter:

@nompilotshuma

@FerreiraMeyers

@nicolapallitt 

Resources:

Useful website:  https://postgradsupervision.com/ 

Previous e/merge Africa presentations related to online supervision

This session has ended – recording from this session is available here

Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com

Session Type: Webinar (1 hour)

Date: Tuesday 15 June 2021; 2:00pm SAST 

Description of webinar:

Learning in groups has been advocated to increase learning. However, although learning groups can bring about meaningful learning, learning groups in online environments are often not working. To solve this problem, this study used design science approaches with three case studies. These case studies were used under three research areas: context of online learning groups, processes to support effective online learning groups and tools to support effective online learning groups. The study adopted mixed methods. Establishing the context of online learning groups laid a foundation for this research study. This was done using a survey approach that covered the five regions in Uganda, semi-structured interviews with experienced online learning facilitators and observation of interaction logs of online courses at both the University of Agder and Makerere University. Initially, preliminary findings of effective online learning groups were established. The preliminary findings consist of the need for: study guide, trained online tutors, motivating and sustaining interaction, high levels of cognitive interactions, peer assessment based activities and ICT. From the context of online learning groups, the Methods and Factors for Effective Online Learning Groups (FEOLG) were established. Methods include: methods for creating online learning groups, methods for structuring online learning group activities, methods for facilitating online learning groups. FEOLG include: supporting institutional online learning group policy; supporting institutional online learning group technology; quality of online learning group activity; quality of the online learning group; and quality of online learning group facilitation. The factors were evaluated using online learning courses based on the existing Makerere University eLearning Environment (MUELE). Therefore, this webinar aims to explain an investigation on how learning groups can work effectively in online learning environments.

Facilitated by: Dr. Godfrey Mayende, Ag. Director, Institute of Open, Distance and eLearning, College of Education and External Studies, Makerere University.

Dr. Godfrey Mayende (Male) has worked at the Institute of Open, Distance and eLearning since 2001, and he is currently the Acting Director of the Institute. Godfrey holds a PhD in ICT (specialising in online learning groups) from the University of Agder (UiA), Norway. He has a PGDE (Educational Technology) from the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. Godfrey holds a MSc. Eng (Information Systems) from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway and a BSc. Comp Science and Mathematics from Makerere University (MAK), Uganda. He has recent peer reviewed publications in the area of eLearning and specifically online learning groups. He has vast experience in eLearning training workshops most especially for online course development. He is a member of the Makerere University e-Learning Fast-Tracking Task Force. He is an educational technology consultant and his research interests are: online learning groups, social media for teaching and learning, distance learning, eLearning, collaborative learning, Instruction Design and Interaction Design.

This event has ended – please refer to recording here