2 – 6 November 2015
A one week Peer-Assist on facilitation models for for access and usage of digital technologies in deep-rural educational settings With Dr. Alice Barlow-Zambodla
As we have seen in previous events for e/merge Africa eLearning and the use of digital hardware has become widespread in most African higher educational institutions. Although many challenges are faced in terms of pedagogy, organisational and to a lesser extend technically many university campuses are often located in areas where infrastructure provides access, both physically and technically.
In this seminar we will consider access and usage models in a deep rural district in South Africa. Our coordinator for East and Southern Africa Dr. Alice Barlow-Zambodla is currently offering her services as a volunteer for the Buffelhoek Trust as a part of a CSI programme of major cell phone service provider. In a rural district covering more than 50 km2 Alice advises on digital usage and access at 3 high schools and 6 primary schools located in Bushbuckridge in the rural province of Mpumalanga, South Africa.
During this week Alice will share her experiences and challenges encountered as well as opening up for a much broader conversation on how to facilitate access and use of digital technologies in this context.

During this week we will deviate slightly from our usual format and ask directly for your input and present this as a peer-assist like format, where Alice will present her case and invite for your direct input. We have planned to have host two online-live sessions – On Monday 2 November at 1 pm (GMT+2/CAT) Alice will present her case then receive questions for further clarifications of her case. During the week we will continue the conversation in our site discussion forum and on Wednesday 4 November at 1 pm (GMT+2/CAT) Alice will host another online live session where you can act as a peer to share your thoughts in conversation with Alice. Please get involved and assist Alice! Please join by using the form below.

Dr. Alice Barlow-Zambodla has a multi-disciplinary background in agriculture (crop science), plant physiology and ICTs in Education. She is also Regional Coordinator for e/merge Africa for Southern and Eastern Africa. Previously she worked as a Programme Specialist for the South African Institute for Distance Education (Saide) where she worked in the field of Research and Development in Education with a special focus on the design, development and implementation of distance learning programmes for rural communities; other specialites also include the use of ICTs in Education, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of educational interventions.

Please notice that this even has ended – resources will remain available on the seminar landing page

21 – 25 September 2015

Our next online seminar will be presented by Dr. Paul Nyagorme, University of Cape Coast, Ghana and Kafui Aheto, who is currently a doctoral candidate at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa. They will share their findings from a study on perceptions of mobile technologies as a facilitator for teaching and learning. This seminar includes a live online meeting and asynchronous discussion and is free of charge.

Please join us for a live online presentation Wednesday 23 September at 3 pm (GMT+2) – This when it’s 1 pm in Accra, 2 pm in Abuja, 3 pm in Cape Town and 4 pm in Nairobi. To join, please follow this link to the Adobe Connect Meeting Room. At the prompt, please choose Sign in as Guest – then provide your name in the text field and choose Enter Room.

“The purpose of this study was to find out the perceptions of students and teachers towards the use of mobile technology in the teaching and learning process. Descriptive research methodology was used for the study. In all, 375 respondents participated in the study. They were made up of 300 students and 75 teachers selected from senior high schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis. Structured questionnaire was the main data collecting instrument. The study found that majority (84.7%) of the students in Cape Coast Metropolis had mobile phones as compared to those with personal computers and the majority (73.0%) of the students also had their mobile phones with them very often than their personal computers. The study also found that more than half of both the teachers and students also indicated that they would like to use mobile devices to support their teaching and learning. The study recommended a model for teaching and learning using mobile technology tools. It was recommended that school administration should organize in-service education and training (INSET) on mobile devices and technologies for teachers and students.”

	Dr. Paul Nyagorme University of Cape Coast, Ghana
	Kafui Aheto Doctoral Candidate at Cape Peninsula University of Technology

We invite applications from educational technologists and educators based in African Higher Education Institutions to participate in a free five week course in online facilitation funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. A maximum of 50 participants can be accommodated.  Course participation will be entirely online and will require up to 8 hours of participation per week. Facilitating Online was developed by the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) at University of Cape Town and is registered as a short course at the University of Cape Town.  A certificate of completion will be awarded for successful completion of 75% of the assessed activities of the course.

Application for the October – November run of this course will be open until 18 September 2015. We are also planning to offer further instances of the course during 2016. Please contact us on facilitationcourse@emergeafrica.net if you would like more information or for us notify you when registration opens for the 2016 courses.

Target participants

The course is aimed at experienced educators at higher education institutions in Africa who have reliable internet access and the opportunity to run courses or components of their courses online.  Selection criteria include:

• previous experience of online teaching and learning
• at least five years’ experience as a university educator or educational technologist
• willingness to teach future online facilitation courses in their local/regional context or
• willingness to be a conference host for the e/merge Africa online educational technology network across African universities.

All applicants will require a letter of support from their line manager or Head of Department.

To apply, please use our online application form by 18 September 2015

Course Facilitators:

Esther Gacicio is an Assistant Director in eLearning at the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE)

Khanyisile Ngodwana is a Writing Centre Coordinator at Walter Sisulu University and a Tutor for UNISA Language and Study Skills and Workplace English courses

Nicola Pallitt is an Educational Technologist in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at University of Cape Town

Nompilo Tshuma is a Learning Technologist at Rhodes University in South Africa.

Course Convenor:

Tony Carr is an Educational Technologist in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at University of Cape Town and Convenor of the e/merge Africa network.

Deadlines and course schedule

The course schedule includes reflection time and takes account of the complex and busy lives of participants by building in a break of a week after each fortnight of course activity.

5 October – 9 October: Week 0 (Entering site, addressing technical issues, introductions)
12 October – 16 October: Week 1
19 October – 23 October: Week 2
26 October – 30 October: Consolidation Week 1
2 November – 6 November: Week 3
9 November – 13 November: Week 4
16 November – 20 November: Consolidation Week 2
23 November – 27 November: Week 5

Enquiries

You can address queries by e-mail to facilitationcourse@emergeafrica.net .