e/merge Africa in partnership with Injini the EdTech startup incubator for Africa invites you apply for an online startup pitch on Friday 20 July from 11.00 – 12.00 SA time (GMT+2). There will be a prize of $200 for the winner and $50 for the runner up. The two top startups will also each receive a 1 hour advice session from Injini.

Do you have an innovative, evidence-driven idea that can solve some of Africa’s school and university education challenges using digital technology?

Ideas could include e-learning in African education, bridging the knowledge gap between high school & university to improve student retention, promoting student success in university, personalised learning, Incorporating new skills into traditional higher education programmes, teacher training, making African research more accessible, tangible & relevant to the world, inclusiveness in schools or higher education, collaboration between African higher education & the rest of world or between students, employability of graduates, innovative ways to make ICT accessible & affordable in education, making secondary of higher education assessment faster & more transparent, increasing the representation of previously disadvantaged groups working in higher education. Your idea may also address another important challenge.

How to apply

Complete the form below. On completion you will receive advice for your 1 minute Whatsapp video pitch which will need to be sent by 6 July. Five successful applications will then be invited to participate in the pitch competition.

The sign up for this event is now closed. However, if you are an entrepreneur with a start up focusing on educational technologies (preferably, but not exclusively, within the tertiary sector), please do contact us to share your work with our network!    

Please note we are extending this event by one week until Friday 25 May join the chat now!

Presenter: Sandhya Gunness, University of Mauritius 

Times and Dates: Monday 14 May 2018 – Friday 25 May 2018

Format: This online event takes the form of a facilitated event on the Design Xchange Facebook group that will be shared on the e/merge Africa Facebook group closer to the time. Two videos will be provided as a stimulus. Participants are invited to discuss the presented videos and to share their own lesson designs.

How can we align learning outcomes, assessments and meaningful and contextual activities? This online event focuses on devising hands-on learning activities using the LATAR model. As education is moving from teacher-centred to more learner-centred approaches, learning should be more situated in the learner’s environment and consider a sharper alignment of assessments to learning outcomes, especially when 21st century skills are involved.

The BSc and MSc Educational Technologies Programmes were launched at the University of Mauritius to help educators integrate technology more meaningfully in their classrooms. The learning design modules have considered LATAR as a rapid technique to engage primary and secondary school teachers to design learning activities through a themed approach, thus making for a more holistic and inclusive learning approach.

Sandhya Gunness shares an introduction to LATAR, a discussion of how it has been useful in her context and an example of how it can be applied in practice. We invite you to share your designs using media of your choice (Word document, Google document, short video, photo, etc). Let’s commit to designing purposeful student learning experiences aligned to learning outcomes together:)

Through participating in this event you will be exposed to how others are designing lessons that incorporate technology for their contexts. Be bold and participate by sharing your design to get constructive feedback from peers from across the African continent.

Although officially over we still welcome you to review resources and post your comments in the Facebook event page created for this event

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Sandhya Gunness is a lecturer in the Open and Online Learning at Centre for Innovative and Lifelong Learning at the University of Mauritius. She teaches Primary and Secondary level teachers about OER and technologies so that they can improve their teaching practices. This is formalised through an online module delivered within the BSc Educational technologies programme at the University of Mauritius. She is currently doing research on the extent of teaching transformations and whether this can be sustained in Mauritian Schools through Open Educational practices. She is also interested in Collaborative Networks and how these are linked and enhanced through Open Educational practices.

Presenters: Dr. Jennifer Maddrell, Designers for Learning (US) & Dr. Tonia Dousay, University of Idaho (US)

Time and Date: Thursday 17 May 2018, 3 pm SAST

Format: 1 hour Webinar

Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com

What are you doing to cultivate your professional presence in your chosen field? Landing a job (or even just “getting your foot in the door” with an employer) involves far more than taking the right coursework and knowing the latest tools and technologies. It’s also necessary to openly engage in the field to share your work process. By working in the open, you develop your professional presence by giving others the opportunity to know your work product and how you work.

In this webinar, we’ll discuss and showcase examples of an open reflexive process to help you establish your professional presence that is inspired by a book titled Show your Work: 10 ways to share your creativity and get discovered by Austin Kleon. In the book’s introduction, Kleon writes that his readers are those trying to break into a new creative field. He is often asked, “How do I get myself out there? How do I get noticed? How do I find an audience?” Kleon’s response is one we applaud and try to emulate in our work:

“In order to be found, you have to be findable. I think there’s an easy way of putting your work out there and making it discoverable while you’re focused on getting really good at what you do.”

From Kleon’s perspective, those who are successful don’t hoard their work in secrecy, but instead gain an audience by sharing what you are doing as you are doing it. This philosophy of openly sharing is the foundation of the presenters approach to work, as well as the central emphasis of this webinar.

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Dr. Jennifer Maddrell is the founder of Designers for Learning, a nonprofit in the United States that facilitates service-learning opportunities to support underserved educational needs. Jennifer completed her Ph.D. in the Instructional Design and Technology program at Old Dominion University where she was awarded a dissertation fellowship to complete this research, and served as an adjunct Assistant Professor.

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Dr. Tonia A. Dousay, Assistant Professor in Moscow, Idaho
Tonia A. Dousay, Ph.D., Tonia is a Google Certified Innovator & Google Certified Trainer with more than 15 years of instructional design and eLearning project management experience. She completed her PhD in Learning, Design, and Technology at the University of Georgia, and is a an assistant professor of learning sciences at the University of Idaho, focusing her teaching and research interests on instructional and multimedia design, situational interest of learners, STEM/STEAM teacher education, student-driving learning, and design-based learning. Whether it’s formal classrooms or non-formal learning spaces like makerspaces, the focus is on how we empower learners to be interdisciplinary and take control of their own learning experiences.
She is an active member of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology and on Twitter at @tadousay

 

Thank you to all who took part in this webinar – to access recording please refer to the Facebook event page