The University of South Africa (Unisa) has put out a second call for papers for its Open Distance and eLearning (ODeL) Virtual Conference.
Established academics as well as newcomers are encouraged to submit content based on ODeL with with a long list of subthemes provided in the list below.
This list is not meant to be the entirety of what the conference hopes to cover, but more acts as inspiration for what is encouraged.
- Disrupting research methodologies in ODL
- Emerging research approaches in the 21st century
- The use of social media in teaching, learning and student support
- Academic integrity and proctoring in fully online assessment
- Ethics and student privacy in proctored online assessment
- Staff and student wellness
- The dynamics of institutional research in ODL
- Student success and retention
- The use of student data to inform teaching, leamng and student support
- Student readiness for higher education, distance education and specific disciplinary contexts
- Faculty readiness/skills to teach and support students in distance and online learning environments
- Balancing cost, quality and access – time to revisit the iron triangle?
- Faculty/student/institutional factors in adopting technologies
- Professional development in ODeL
- Academic leadership in ODL
- Leading and managing support for student success
After this round of intakes there will be a final call for papers happening in April. A deadline for papers and proposals will happen on 21st May followed by several other steps to turn these into parts of the conference, which is taking place between 3rd and 5th August.
To register for participation in the event academics should email odelconference[at]unisa[dot]ac[dot]za.
Applicants are also asked to CC in Professor Moeketsi Letseka which is Project Leader: UNESCO Chair on Open Distance Learning at letsem[at]unisa[dot]ac[dot]za.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has partnered with Unisa for this event.
These conferences have been happening yearly and they are even more important after the pandemic made distance education a priority.
