Abstracts to be submitted for SAICET (educational technology) in Pretoria, South Africa

Although Pretoria is known as the Jacaranda city, in April, pansies are in abundance

May 2017 be a wonderful conferencing year to all academics. Back to full strength regarding these posts, I want to draw your attention today to a very important conference that will take place in Pretoria soon. 

There is still time to submit an abstract (maximum 500 words) for the South African International Conference on Educational Technology (SAICET) before the 31^st of January, or, if you only want to attend without presentation, you should register before the same date to save $100. Registration from 1^st of February will be $500, which is a lot of money for South Africans to pay but I really do think this conference is worth the money. We are experiencing the fourth revolution in society (first was the development of language, then came writing and after that the printing press), which is a technology-based, networking society and education needs to urgently adjust to this new world if it wants to stay relevant and a major influence in society. Therefore, academics do need to take note of the development and potential of using technology in education. By now I am sure that all of us understand that technology does not enhances learning nor does it replace it, but it surely does provide alternative and additional modes of instruction, learning and assessment that can enhance the learning experience.  

The SAICET conference will be held in the Manhattan hotel in Pretoria, next to the Gautrain station. There is major refurbishing taking place at the hotel at the moment and hopefully this will be finished by April when the conference will take place (24-26 April 2017). (This is not the best hotel in Pretoria if you need accommodation due to noise levels, but the conference facilities seem to be fine).

The African Academic Research Forum is hosting this conference and the range of topics is impressive. The more than 50 topics include issues such as blended learning, e-moderating, digital libraries, (and a number of other digital and Computer related topics), Distance Education, Games in Education, e-learning, e-portfolios, mobile learning and social media in education to name just a few.  The theme of the conference is ‘beyond the horizon’ which is certainly what we need to look at in 2017.