Dear Colleague, We hope you are having a productive year so far and that this newsletter feeds your desire for local and online professional development opportunities.This edition features e/merge2018: Festival of e-Learning, information about our upcoming events and local conferences, open access publications and other opportunities that may be of interest. ● ● ● ●
e/merge 2018: Festival of e-Learning Upcoming online events - Save the date! Recommended conferences, opportunities & resources Become a member of the AECT
e/merge 2018: Festival of e-Learning
We invite you to join our e/merge 2018 online festival with the theme of ‘Growing e-learning capacity together’ taking place from 9–20 July 2018. e/merge 2018 will present an exciting combination of research colloquium, innovative practice presentations, workshops and unconference. Please submit your proposals before 23 April 2018. Read the full call including details about the timeline and publication opportunities here. Here are some FAQs and things to think about when crafting your proposal.
Upcoming online events - Save the date! 14–18 May 2018: Design Xchange Sandhya Gunness, Lecturer, Open and Online Learning at Centre for Innovative and Lifelong Learning, University of Mauritius
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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. 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. Join our Facebook event page for updates.
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17 May 2018: Design in the Open Dr. Jennifer Maddrell, Designers for Learning Dr. Tonia A. Dousay, Assistant Professor in Moscow, Idaho
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. Format: Webinar on Thursday 17 May 2018, 3pm SAST. Join our Facebook event page for updates.
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Recommended conferences, opportunities & resources Cape Town based colleagues may be interested in the Learning LandsCAPE conference taking place from 8-9 May 2018. The theme is Perfecting the Blend! Motivation & Blended Learning. The 13th eLearning Africa is taking place in Kigali (Rwanda) from 26 - 28 September 2018. Don’t miss out! This year’s theme is Uniting Africa. DELP 2018 Conference (DELP2018-C) is taking place at Makerere University in Uganda on 9 July 2018. The conference theme is Using Emerging Open Distance and eLearning (ODeL) Technologies to Promote Inclusive, Quality and Equitable Education.
The 13th International Conference on e- Learning (ICEL) is taking place in Cape Town from 5 - 6th July 2018. Early bird discounts close on 26 April 2016. Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) have just released an open access book OER Adoption and Impact in the Global South. Download if for FREE or buy it here. British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) Special Issue: Collaborative Learning Enhanced by Mobile Technologies. How can collaborative learning be enhanced by mobile technologies? Enjoy free online access to the latest BJET special issue until 26th May 2018. Explore a collection of freely available research from the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Journals on the conference theme: The dreams, possibilities and necessity of public education. All papers in the collection have been selected by the editorial teams of the British Educational Research Journal (BERJ), the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) and Review of Education.
Open access journals for interest: TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning. A publication of the Association for Educational Communications & Technology (AECT) The International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT) The International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (ETHE) The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL)
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Become a member of the AECT In 2016 e/merge Africa became affiliated with the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). Special discounts to join this organisation is available for e/merge Africa members. Details here. We look forward to your energetic participation - let’s unleash the power of networks together! The e/merge Africa team Subscribe to our YouTube channel Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Visit our website
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