Presenters: e/merge Africa team and friends!

Time and Date: Tuesday 28 August 1pm SAST

Format: 1 hour Webinar

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Members of the e/merge Africa network attended and presented at ICEL. This conference was hosted by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) from 5-6 July in Cape Town. In this report back our friends will share insights about their conference experiences, highlights and opportunities for further conversations.

This event has ended – please refer to the YouTube recording

Please note: registration is now Open!  To join us in July register today on the e/merge2018 conference site. We invite you to join our online festival taking place 9–20 July 2018. Our registration fees have been set to mazimise participation.

• Presenters and workshop leaders: no charge
• Participants in South Africa: R200.00
• Participants in all other African countries: no charge
• Participants in other continents: R600.00

Festival Theme: Growing e-learning capacity together

After several decades of experience across projects rolling out educational technology it is well understood that the availability of technology is just one of several preconditions for success. Effective integration of technology to enhance learning and teaching requires the development and use of technical, organisational and pedagogical capabilities. This online festival is about the development of deep capacity for e-learning by African higher education in an increasingly networked world.

e/merge 2018 will convene a welcoming space and a diverse, dynamic community across multiple networks to discuss, debate, review, showcase and celebrate e-learning in higher education in Africa. Our focus is on e-learning in African higher education and on joining up the African and global conversations about e-learning research and practice. Presenters and workshop leaders from all continents who are working with or researching e-learning in Africa are encouraged to submit proposals. The presenters and conference interactions will be supported by a team of trained and experienced online facilitators from across Africa.

e/merge 2018 grows out of the series of e/merge online conferences in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2012, the Transform 2015 online conference and the e/merge Africa network for educational technology practitioners and researchers in African higher education which has presented regular online professional development events since 2014.

Publication Opportunities from e/merge 2018

All the e/merge 2018 presentations and papers will appear in the public online proceedings of the conference. Authors of the best presentations and papers in e/merge 2018 will be invited to submit improved versions of their papers for publication in the International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT). There are also likely to be other post-conference publication opportunities for e/merge 2018 authors.

Timeline
6/7/2018: Conference site goes live
9/7 – 20/7/2018: e/merge 2018

We thank all who took part in this wonderful event either as participant or presenter! If you registered and attended the Festival resources are still available on our Sakai festival site. We are currently working on making proceedings available to our wider network 

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!