e/merge 2006

Cafe' Forums: In "Our Languages" a Zimbabwean delegate has said "Manheru. Maswera sei ? Good evening. How have you spent the day?" (Shona). Another e/merger has shared two phrases in Arabic: "Assalaamu Alaykum (peace be upon you all)" and "Sabaahan Nur (good morning)" at 12.49 in the morning. In "My e/merge 2006" one presenter is experiencing platform frustration because there is no spell checker for the e/merge discussion forums.

Learning Organisations Forums:

In "Establishing an eLearning Centre" Maggy describes the voluntary and enthusiastic participation of the stakeholders as well as the role that InWent played as respected outsiders.

In "ICTs in Mozambican Education" the narrated Powerpoint by the Minister became available for discussion. The issues under discussion included the importance of collaboration and questions concerning language, responsibility for implementation, teacher training, staff retention and the scope for international partnerships. One message asked about how ICTs could help to reduce the 86% attrition rate in primary education. (More)

Online Discussions: The Learning Organisations phase continues. Nancy White leads discussion on "Loving Your Tools" in the "Emerging Competencies of Online Interaction" workshop. Joseph Novak , the initiator of concept mapping in education is also with us. Don't miss this opportunity to engage with a leading pioneer of transformative education.

Live Events (GMT+2)

Today
11:00 - 11:30 : Teatime chat in the chatroom (in progress)

Tomorrrow
07:00 - 08:00 : Kitty den Boogert and Xavier Muianga on the use of Moodle in Teaching.
11:00 - 11:30 : Teatime chat in the chatroom
15:00 - 16:00 : Barbara Bowen: "Introduction to concept mapping & CmapTools" in the Breeze Meeting room.

Learning Organisations Forums

In "Establishing an eLearning Centre" the discussion has highlighted the need sound national ICT policy for multi stakeholder collaboration to avoid duplication and create synergies. In "Sustainable Computer Use in Schools" participants are sharing what makes their projects sustainable. Herbert emphasises the importance of skills that are "specific to the particular roles fulfilled by the participants in the Project" as well as "critical reflection on the Project" and "a tying together of loose strands". In "eLearning in Universities" participants are discussing their local support structures for elearning and the incentives to educators. In "Professional Development" participants are grappling with the need for both quality and quantity. One colleague is starting to think that "we need to approach change from an ideological/pedagogical stand point and forget about technology until there is a change in the understanding of what ...facilitation and learning, is all about." Ingrid states that "collaboration between members from computer science, education and local teachers is an effect[ive] way of helping introduce and support ICTs in schools."

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Workshops

In "Emerging Competencies of Online Interaction: Online Communications" we consisidered our varied styles of communication and started opening the issue of dealing with information overload. The Jungle Tour got off to a wild start yesterday. The video will soon be available to all in e/merge 2006
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In the "My e/merge 2006" forum a colleague wonders if there is a space for "The little league where people can share ideas and theories they have, but for which they can not give page refs for the sources and list a table full of data." My response is that everywhere in e/merge should be like this but most especially the Open Space forum where you can start a conversation about your elearning passions. This conference is for both practitioners and researchers so I'd encourage everyone to jump into the conversations! This way we can create new knowledge together across sectors, professions and countries.

Today emphasis shifts from the Big Picture forums to the Learning Organisations forums. We will start the new phase at midday (GMT +2) but all the Big Picture forums will remain open for reading and posting until the end of e/merge 2006. Joseph Novak who is the pioneer of concept mapping in education is with us in the Novakian Concept Mapping Workshop. Today the "Eight Emerging Competencies of Online Interaction" workshop features Tolerance for Ambiguity.

Live events today: Teatime Chat from 11.00 - 11.30 if you want to check in with fellow e/mergers. Follow the link from the Events Schedule.

The planned keynote by the Mozambican Minister of Education will be delivered as a narrated Powerpoint since the really bad bandwidth contraints within Southern Africa would make a live event too risky. An announcement will be made as soon as the presentation is available.

As Tony described it, we encountered "some bandwidth problems" during the e/merge 2006 opening event. Kuzvinetsa Peter Dzvimbo, Rector of the African Virtual University was unable to present his keynote speech live because of poor connectivity between the AVU's Nairobi offices and the Breeze Server at the University of Cape Town.

We have had similar problems in tests from the Ministry of Science of Technology in Mozambique, and thus are converting a 2nd possible live presentation from Venancio Massingue, Mozambican Minister of Science and Technology, into a pre-recorded slideshow.

Sad to say, the bandwidth required for this sort of audio conferencing (with a little video) is not much - Breeze has a range of bandwidth options starting from around 25 Kbps. Nevertheless, somehow reliable end-to-end connections that can sustain uninterrupted live audio seem to be hard to come by in Africa.

So it's ironic that in an online conference about e-learning in Africa, it's easier for us to present live sessions from presenters in the US, Canada, Netherlands and Hong Kong than it is to hear African voices from neighbouring countries.

So here's to everyone in Africa working on improving regional Internet connectivity and peering, lowering bandwidth costs and overturning telecommunications monopolies. It can't happen soon enough. Bring on the African telecomms renaissance.

Today in e/merge 2006

Online Discussions
* The Big Picture Forums continue
* The Keynote Presentation by KP Dzvimbo on "The limits and possibilities of e-learning in Africa: A brief expose of the AVU experiences" is available for discussion.
* A conversation with Joseph Novak in the workshop on Novakian Concept Maps
* Discussion of Online Communication Skills in the "Emerging Competencies of Online Interaction"

Events Today
* 11:00 - 11:30 Teatime chat in the chatroom (link from Events Schedule)
* 15:00 - 16:00 Jungle Tour Meeting 1 with Robin Good. Restricted to 10 participants with broadband connections and nerves of steel.

If you need any help to get going with e/merge please contact us on help@emerge2006.net.

There was a good start to the online conversations yesterday and apart from some bandwidth problems between Nairobi and Cape Town the Opening went very well. There are still new faces appearing in e/merge to be welcomed. A special welcome to the 18 delegates from the Limpopo Department of Education in South Africa and to several guests of the Mozambican Minister of Science and Technology. (More)

e/merge 2006 is almost upon us! Registration has been open for a while at http://emerge2006.net. Of course while you _can_ register at the last moment (being an online conference and all), please be organizer-friendly, and register soon.

We would also like to invite any Cape Town e/mergers to join us at the opening event on Mon 10 July 2006, 5pm - 7pm (details below). The keynote will also be webcast using Breeze for registered participants.

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Our e/merge 2006 website is now live at http://emerge2006.net and contains the latest versions of the Conference Announcement and the Call for Papers. These have been sent to several large mailing lists and will be circulated to many more over the next few days :) Please feel encouraged to circulate these to your networks.

(Dear colleagues, please note that the website and associated e-mail addresses are not yet ready.)

DRAFT OF CALL FOR PAPERS

e/merge 2006
10th - 21st July 2006
http://emerge2006.net

Call for Papers

e/merge 2006 - Learning Landscapes in Southern Africa is the second virtual conference on educational technology in the SADC region and builds on the e/merge 2004. e/merge 2006 will take place online from 10th - 21st July 2006 and will include associated face to face events in a number of cities.

This conference focuses on online collaborative learning in our regional context of unequal access to technology and to education. This could involve both online and face to face interaction We will prioritise high quality papers and presentations which demonstrate responsiveness to the context of learning in Southern African tertiary education including issues of digital divide, differential access to education, and diversity. We would envisage papers in the following areas:

Research Methodologies
Access to Learning Technologies
Theories and models of computer supported collaborative learning
Learning Communities
Staff Development
Learning Environments

We are also interested in receiving proposals for technology demonstrations and online workshops focused on the regional context.

All abstracts will be peer reviewed to ensure that an appropriate range of high quality presentations will be selected. There will be a maximum of 32 presentations in the formal programme. Presentations will be accepted in forms such as full text papers, slide-show presentations, web pages and narrated slide-show presentations. Presenters are encouraged to explore innovative technologies and methods of online presentation.

Each paper will be discussed online over a period of 3-4 days. Papers on similar themes may be grouped for discussion. Conference papers in the peer reviewed publication track may also be submitted for a peer reviewed special issue of The International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT).

e/merge 2006 will incorporate several tracks including:
1) Peer Reviewed Publication Track
2) Peer Reviewed Proposal
3) Invited presentations and workshops
4) Panel Discussions

Authors will retain copyright to submitted papers, while granting permission to the Centre for Educational Technology and the e/merge 2006 conference to publish the papers online and in print. The conference website and proceedings will become a publicly accessible online resource for the broader community after the conference. Conference delegates will receive a CD of the conference and proceedings.

Proposals of up to 500 words should be submitted by email to proposals@emerge2006.net by 10th January 2005. Early submissions will be greatly appreciated as this will facilitate the review process.

Deadlines:

Proposals of up to 500 words: Tuesday 10 January 2006
Notification of acceptance: Friday 10 February 2006
Peer reviewed papers submitted for review: Friday 14 April 2006
Acceptance of Final Peer Reviewed Papers: Thursday June 1 2006
Conference dates: Monday 10 July - Friday 21 July 2006

Review panel:

(to be included within the next few days)

(Dear colleagues, please note that the website and associated e-mail addresses are not yet ready.)

DRAFT OF CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

e/merge 2006
10th - 21st July 2006
http://emerge2006.net

Conference Announcement

e/merge 2006 - Learning Landscapes in Southern Africa is the second virtual conference on educational technology in the SADC region and builds on the e/merge 2004. e/merge 2006 will take place online from 10th - 21st July 2006 and may include associated face to face events in a number of cities.

This conference focuses on online collaborative learning in our regional context of unequal access to technology and to education. This could involve both online and face to face interaction

The conference is primarily designed to share good practice and knowledge about educational technology innovation within the further and higher education sectors in the region, as well as to strengthen communities of researchers and practitioners.

Proposals for presentations must be submitted by Tuesday 10th January 2006. For the full call for papers, please visit http://emerge2006.net.

Who is the conference for?

e/merge 2006 is primarily for educational technology researchers and practitioners based in Southern Africa. We will forge relationships to attract participants from other English speaking African countries. Participants from other regions who have an interest in the use of educational technology in Southern Africa will also be warmly welcomed.

Who is organising the conference?

e/merge 2006 is organised by the Centre for Educational Technology at University of Cape Town. We are open to collaborating with other organisations and networks in the region and beyond to ensure a high quality, dynamic conference.

What is an online conference ?

In a conventional conference everyone travels to one physical location to debate conference papers and to network. In an online conference we use a website as the conference venue. We can view selected presentations, read conference papers, share useful resources, take part in debate, share best practices and network informally.

Mostly these online meetings are spread over a few days to allow us the flexibility to take part when we choose. There will also be some live meetings online which enhance the sense of shared presence and energise the conference. Overall, an online conference creates opportunities for rich conversations which grow knowledge in a community involving experts and practitioners.

How much time will it take?

That's entirely up to you. You can choose to focus on a few discussions that interest you if you have very limited time available for participation. Most participants in e/merge 2004 spent up to 10 hours online over a two week period.

What do I need to take part?

A reliable dialup or network Internet connection will allow for a full experience of the conference. However you can participate even if you only have reliable e-mail access and limited access to the Internet.

How much does the conference cost?

The conference fees have been set to encourage participation:

Participants based in Africa - R200
Participants from other regions - $100
There will be a small number of sponsored places

How do I sign up?

Please fill in your details online, or email us at info@emerge2006.net.
Formal registration will open in February 2006.