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 festival 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. e/merge 2018 is organised by e/merge Africa and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Publication Opportunities from e/merge 2018

e/merge 2018 presentations and papers will appear in the public online proceedings of the conference and in a limited circulation proceedings DVD with its own ISBN number . 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

22/2/2018: Call for proposals opens

22/3/2018: Deadline for proposals (first call)

23/4/2018: Deadline for proposals (late submissions still considered)

28/5/2018: Participant and presenter registration opens

4/5/2018: Feedback to authors and presenters

22/6/2018: Deadline for submission of papers and files for upload

22/6/2018: Unconference collaboration space opens

6/7/2018: Festival site goes live

9/7 - 20/7/2018: e/merge 2018