Article by Michael Opiyoh
1. INTRODUCTION
The 14th eLearning Africa 2019 Conference was held in Abidjan, Côte D’ Ivoire from 23rd – 25th October 2019 at the Sofitel Abidjan Ivoire Hotel. The EPICA project was allocated a stand/booth by the organisers at the entrance of the Auditorium where the main events such as the Plenary sessions and the eLearning Africa debate took place. EPICA was represented during this year’s eLearning Africa by the following partners; Jean-Baptiste Milon (ICDE), Snorre Qveim (ICDE), Michael Opiyoh (MU), Richard Kajumbula (MAK) and Edephonce Nfuka (OUT).
The EPICA Project booth/stand was manned by the project team from the first to the last day where promotional materials of the project were distributed to both the exhibitors and also other stakeholders who came to the booth. Those who visited the booth included members of the public, educationists, students, employers, technologists and policy makers, all drawn from different parts of the world.
One major challenge that was encountered by part of the EPICA team was that being Côte D’Ivoire a French speaking West African country, the majority of those who attended this years’ eLearning Africa were locals/nationals who could only communicate in French language. Luckily, we had members of our team who could communicate fluently in French.
From the EPICA partners point of view, this year’s eLearning Africa Conference was successful as it brought key players in the eLearning industry such as Martin Dougiamas, the Moodle founder and other companies in Europe that have developed new innovations/products in eLearning. The conference presented an opportunity for us to network with other players in eLearning drawn from different parts of the globe. Lastly, we would like to remind the exciting networking moments that we shared during the well-organised joint lunches that were served for two days as well as the sumptuous dinner that was served by the pool side on the second day of the conference.
2. EPICA SESSION
The EPICA Session was scheduled for Friday, 25th October, 2019 at 2.00pm and was well attended by different stakeholders. Key people among the stakeholders were some members from African Universities in Uganda, Tanzania and Côte D’Ivoire. The EPICA Session was organised in three parts; first, a presentation of the EPICA project to the stakeholders; second, a walkthrough of the ePortfolio System with a practical demo that showed the ePortfolio’s main features and lastly a practical group session that led to highly interesting conclusions.
2.1 Presentation of EPICA Project – 20 minutes
The following items were presented:
- Introduction
- E-Portfolio Overview
- University/Teacher Perspective
- Student Perspective
- Employer Perspective
- E-Portfolio Integration with LMS at the Implementing Universities
- Conclusion
2.2 Open Plenary – 50 minutes
- Demo of the ePortfolio – 15min.
- Questions/Responses – 15min.
- Group Activity/Presentation/Discussion – 20min.
3. CONCLUSION
The EPICA project session was rated the best of the conference by many participants, thanks to the team work and collaboration amongst the various partners during the conference. I wish to thank the eLearning Conference organisers for their support that made it possible for us to attend and participate in this year’s eLearning Africa conference. I look forward to participating in next years’ conference.
For more information on EPICA: www.epica-initiative.com
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