Presenters: Dr. Nicola Pallitt & Dr. Alice Barlow-Zambodla, e/merge Africa

Time and Date: Tuesday 20 November 2018, 1 pm SAST / 7 am EDT (US)

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For this year the AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology) conference organisers have chosen the theme “Learning for All” for this year’s convention in Kansas City, Missouri. In this report back session Nicola and Alice will share their reflections, learnings and experiences related to this conference. Over the past couple of years, the AECT has made a significant effort to promote scholarship, best practices, and leadership in the creation, use, and management of technologies for effective teaching and learning. In 2016 e/merge Africa became an affiliate organisation of AECT. This session will also discuss what opportunities this could give e/merge Africa members. This report back is also a virtual celebration of the collaboration between the two organisations. This event has ended, thank you to all who joined us – the recording of this event is available on our YouTube channel

Dr. Nicola Pallitt is a lecturer in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) at the University of Cape Town. She is part of the e/merge Africa team and co-convenes the Facilitating Online courseEducational Technology Lecturer, Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT), University of Cape Town
I have been involved in a variety of curriculum innovation initiatives and assist university staff with blended and online learning design. I co-teach on a postgraduate programme in educational technology and co-convene the e/merge Facilitating Online course. I received my PhD in Media Studies (2013) and Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education Studies (2014) from the University of Cape Town. My research interests include digital games, open badges, social media and ePortfolios in Higher Education. I hope to engage fellow researcher-practitioners in research that takes critical, contextual and pedagogically informed approaches to educational technology. I am an avid sketchnoter, networked scholar and lifelong learner. When I’m not online I’m probably doing something belly dance related or hunting for Pokemon

Dr Alice Barlow-Zambodla e/Merge Africa Network Regional Coordinator for Southern and East Africa
I have a multi-disciplinary background in Agriculture, Botany and ICTs for education resulting in lecturing and research experience totalling more than 25 years at the Universities of Transkei and Kwa-Zulu-Natal, South Africa. My more recent experiences involve working as a Programme Specialist for 7.5 years at SAIDE, an educational research and development NGO. This work involved working with various tertiary institutions on the continent focussing mainly on open and distance learning programmes,  the development and use of open education resources, ICTs for Education and development, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of educational interventions. In my capacity as a Vodacom Change the World volunteer 2014-2016  I have been working with the Buffelshoek Trust  to set up and capacitate 11 ICT Centres situated at 9 rural schools in Bushbuckridge Municipality, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Presenter: Dr.Osman Sadeck, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), South Africa 

Time and Date: Thursday 1 November 2018, 1 pm SAST

Format: 1 hour Webinar

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The introduction of technologies into the teaching and learning environment has implied changes to the way education plays out in an eEnvironment. Previous research has highlighted the many barriers and challenges in integration technology into teaching and learning. Technology is said to be underutilised. However there are studies that have identified that teachers are using technology in their work. Little is known about the extent of this use of technology. Accordingly less is known about teachers’ eLearning practices. Osman Sadeck’s doctoral research seeks to highlight patterns in teachers’ eLearning practices.

In this webinar, Osman will share insights from aspects of his doctoral study (which informed the paper linked below) of teachers’ e-learning practice where findings revealed that teachers’ development and progress in using technology for educational purposes can be located on continuums of adoption, use and practice. The webinar and the article linked below (authored with supervisor Johannes Cronjé) focuses on the continuums for use and practice.

Using a blend of inductive and deductive techniques data was collected from a sample of teachers known to be using technology in their work. The study was framed by the: (i) Development in use and stages of teaching and learning with technologies (UNESCO) and (ii) Technological skills developmental levels (DoE). The data from the study has highlighted patterns in the use and practice of technology integration in school education. These patterns could be mapped to continuums of use and practice. It has been found that teachers used technology for a variety of purposes: personal, administration, teaching and learning at different frequencies and at varying levels of intensity. Teachers were found to use technology for eTeaching and eLearning progressively and in ways that was aligned to their comfort zones. The way teachers’ used technology was found to be progressive from simple to innovative.

Links for interest:

Sadeck, O. and Cronjé, J. 2017. A Continuum of Teachers’ e-Learning Practices, The Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 15(5): 396–409.

Dr Osman Sadeck is a Post-Doc Researcher and overall Project Manager at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Cape Town, South Africa) for the Assessment for Learning in Africa (AFLA) project.

He previously worked as the head of e-Learning in the Western Cape Education Department in the Western Cape Province in South Africa where he led the implementation of e-Learning across the province until his retirement in 2016. He developed the e-Vision for the province and introduced an LMS for e-Learning alongside professional development strategies that include e-Pedagogy courses. He has previously co-authored the assessment modules for the AUSAID B.Tech (Technology Education; Newave DTP & Repro cc.; 1999) and a series of school textbooks for Technology Education

Dr Sadeck has served as lead and as member on various committees developing the South African school curriculum for ICTs in Education, Engineer Graphics and Design and Technology Education in the past 20 years.

Dr Sadeck holds a MEd (e-Learning): University of Technology Sydney and a DTech: Informatics (e-Learning): Cape Peninsula University of Technology. His research field is e-Learning and ICTs in education with a focus on the practices of teachers.

Source of bio: http://oucea.education.ox.ac.uk/research/recent-research-projects/assessment-for-learning-in-africa-afla/afla-research-team/dr-osman-sadeck/

Thank you to all who took part in this event – a recording will soon be available on the e/merge Africa YouTube channel

Presenters: The e/merge Africa team

Time and Date: Thursday 11 October 1 pm SAST

Format: 1 hour Webinar

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This year 9 members of the e/merge Africa team were at the eLearning Africa conference in Kigali, Rwanda. On 26 September our team led a half day workshop on online facilitation. The workshop was well attended with nearly 60 conference delegates taking part. In this report-back from eLA2018 we will talk about our experiences and learning from the workshop and about our general experiences and impressions from this year’s conference and the opportunities it presented for us. Please sign up below:

Thank you to all who took part in this event. A recording is available here