Call for Papers
e/merge 2008 - Professionalising Practices is the third virtual conference on educational technology in Africa and builds on the e/merge conferences in 2004 and 2006. e/merge 2008 will take place online from 7 - 18 July 2008 and may include associated face to face events in a number of cities.
e/merge 2008 focuses on professionalising the new practices of teaching with technology. This includes sharing stories, sharing good practices and sharing research. The conversations in e/merge 2008 will engage with our regional context of unequal access to technology and to education within a global context of changes in teaching and learning tools and practices.
Communities: Our research and practitioner networks encompass a wide range of professional interests. Each of these will be represented by one of the parallel communities for Schools, Discipline Based Teaching and Learning, Researchers, Policy Debates and Educational Technologists. Due to the asynchronous nature of much of the online conversation it will be possible for participants to join and move between two or more communities. Presentations and papers are likely to draw on themes such as research methodologies, open educational resources, access to learning technologies, computer supported collaborative learning, learning environments, staff development and learning communities. We are also interested in receiving proposals for technology demonstrations and online workshops focused on the regional context.
Abstracts: 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.
Papers: 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).
Tracks: e/merge 2008 will incorporate several tracks including:
- Peer Reviewed Publication Track
- Peer Reviewed Abstracts
- Invited presentations
- Workshops
- Panel Discussions
Copyright: Authors will retain copyright to submitted papers, while granting permission to the Centre for Educational Technology and the e/merge 2008 conference to publish the papers online and in print. The conference proceedings will become a publicly accessible online resource for the broader community after the conference. Conference delegates will receive a CD of the conference proceedings.
Abstracts and Proposals of up to 500 words should be submitted by email to proposals@emerge2008.net by 29 February 2008. Early submissions will be greatly appreciated as this will facilitate the review process. Further proposals will be considered after the due date.
Deadlines
- Inital Call: Abstracts of up to 500 words: Friday 29 February 2008
- Notification of acceptance: From Thursday 20 March 2008
- Final Call for Proposals: Abstracts of up to 500 words: Wednesday 16 April 2008
- Peer reviewed papers of up to 4000 words submitted for review: Friday 16 May 2008
- Acceptance of Final Peer Reviewed Papers: Tues June 17 2008
- Presentations uploaded to the site: Fri 27 June 2008
- Conference Site open for Introductions: Friday 4 July 2008
- Conference dates: Monday 7 - Friday 18 July 2008
Review Panel
The Programme Advisory Committee will also be drawn from this panel. Several
further reviewers are likely to be added to the panel during February.
- Chair: Tony Carr, Staff Development Co-ordinator: Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town
- Chair: Associate Professor Laura Czerniewicz, Director: Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town
- Professor Alan Amory, Department of Mathematics, Sciences, Technology and Computer Education, Faculty of Education, University of Johannesburg
- Dr Kitty den Boogert, Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique
- Professor Elizabeth Henning, Director: Centre for Education Practice Research, University of Johannesburg
- Dr Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams, Research Manager, Opening Scholarship Project, Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town
- Dr Willy Komba, Mkwawa University College of Education, University of Dar es Salaam
- Professor Ton Mooij, Educational Research and Evaluation; ITS - Radboud University, Nijmegen
- Dr Dick N'gambi, Research Coordinator, Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town
- Dr Martin Oliver, Reader in ICT in Education, London Knowledge Lab, Institute of Education, University of London
- Mr Fred Opali, Head of Department of Communication at the Polytechnic of Namibia
- Dr Andrew Paterson, Senior Researcher in the Research Unit at the Southern African Development Bank
- Mr Andrew Scholtz, Chair: eLearning and eServices, Fujairah Colleges, Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates
- Dr Bronwyn Stuckey, Visiting Scholar in the Learning, Cognition and Instruction/Learning Sciences at Indiana University
- Professor Duan van der Westhuizen, Head of Dept. of Mathematics, Science,Technology & Computer Education, University of Johannesburg