The e/merge Africa team has returned after an exciting week in Egypt, attending the annual eLearning Africa conference. We learned a lot, we connected a lot and had many great experiences we would like to share! Today Wednesday 1 June 2016 we hosted a one hour webinar sharing the team’s views and impressions of the conference. Recording is available here

Monday 16 May – Friday 20 May 2016 

Join us from 16 May to 20 May 2016 when Dr. Penina Lam is hosting “10 Essential Ingredients for an Effective eMentoring Design Plan”. View Monday’s webinar here, then proceed to our seminar landing page here to view more resources and take part in the conversation in the discussion forum.

Objectives: By the end of this Webinar, the participants will be able to:
• Evaluate the benefits associated with virtual mentoring and fit for their audience(s)
• Describe the 10 essential ingredients for designing an effective eMentoring plan
• Choose to engage in facilitated sessions following the Webinar and apply lessons learned
Abstract. Virtual mentoring (eMentoring) offers an unprecedented pathway to accessing a rich pool of global talent and expertise who can enrich in-class and out-of-class learning experiences. It holds great promise for mentors and mentees; for individuals, schools and workplaces. eMentoring applications presents opportunities for mentoring pairs or teams who can now meet and communicate from virtually anywhere around the globe! eMentoring can introduce a valuable blend to the educator’s took kit enabling the engagement of diverse learning stakeholders and utilizing readily available technologies.

Mentoring is useful as a learning approach for all ages and levels of experience that has been shown to have tremendous benefits for those who engage. Mentoring helps develop confidence, key competencies, and networking resources particularly vital for today’s competitive workplace. Virtual mentoring is not just about the technology that is used but about the people relationships and strategy to develop a sound initiative.

The participants will evaluate the promise of these mobile- and Web-based applications and how mentorship can be designed for maximum impact. This Webinar will focus on these foundations of eMentoring to provide educators with ideas on design principles, tools, and tips for implementation.

The Webinar session will be interactive, featuring live polls and chats with the featured speaker. Following the live session, the participants will engage with a facilitator for deeper reflection activities.

Dr. Penina Lam is the CEO of eLearning Innovators, Inc. She is also the Online Instructional Design Consultant for the World Bank’s Gateway Academy. She co-directs the annual eLearning Innovations Conference & Expo (ELICE), reaching thousands of educators, leaders, and innovators. She’s passionate about learning and organizational development. As a learning solutions consultant and coach, she works internationally to support organizations with accessible, efficient, and quality multi-media learning options. She is an early adopter of eLearning and since 2001, she’s been involved in the design, facilitation, and evaluation of dozens of online and blended courses. Penina holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Organizational Development (OD) from the University of Louisville (USA); a master’s in higher education; and a bachelor’s degree from Kenyatta University (B.Ed. Hon).  She served in senior leadership roles in higher education and corporate sectors. She has served as faculty at the University of Arkansas (USA); Queen’s University (Canada) and the Kenya Utalii College. Penina is a member of Rotary International. She serves on several non-profit Boards. She authored Virtual Mentoring (2015) and co-authored The Management of Adult Education Organizations in Africa (2011), published by the UNESCO Institute of Education & Pearson.

This survey is now closed and we would like thank all who took part. We are currently looking at the data obtained and will share this later during the year. If you were one of the lucky ones who won a prize, please note we are currently processing all prize entries and will send during this month. If you indicated that you would like to convene an e/merge Africa webinar, seminar or workshop we will contact you during the next couple of months.

Completing the AAU/ e/merge Africa survey is a powerful act of participation in growing e-learning capacity across our continent. We need your help with this. The survey results will help the Association of African Universities and e/merge Africa to design programmes of vibrant, highly relevant professional development activities which draw on the depth of expertise in the network and support your effectiveness as an e-learning practitioner or researcher. To do this we need good up to date information from hundreds of colleagues like you across African higher education. After completion you will be able to enter a draw for iTunes, Google Play and Amazon vouchers. The survey closed on 15 July 2016!

This survey is a project of the Association of African Universities in partnership with the e/merge Africa professional development network. The survey is designed to provide information about e-learning uptake as well as the professional development needs and priorities of e-learning practitioners and researchers in African Higher Education Institutions. 

The survey has 33 questions and will take up to 30 minutes to complete. All information supplied will be anonymous and no potentially identifying details will be shared. At the beginning of the survey you will be asked to confirm your consent to participate. After completion of the survey you will be able to enter a draw for prizes of US$25 and US$50 Amazon.com, iTunes and Google Play vouchers.
Please click here to take part in the survey. Please forward to colleagues based at higher education institutions within Africa. Our survey is also available in French, Portuguese and Arabic.