Message from the Dean: Prof Chika Sehoole

The Organising Committee of 2021 Distance Education and Teachers’ Training in Africa (DETA) Conference is pleased to announce the hosting of the DETA 2021 Conference that will take place on the 3th - 5th August 2021. This conference was initially planned to be hosted at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated risks and uncertainties, the Organising Committee has decided that this conference be hosted online.

The theme of the Conference is: Reimagining African Teacher Education through Distance for a Postpandemic Future. Given the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a global scale, including in education, the conference aims to take a close look on this impact and implications for teacher education in Africa. More details will be communicated in the conference call.

We are committed to ensuring that the 2021 DETA Conference virtual experience continues to serve the purpose and mission which DETA conferences have historically served. In shifting the entire face-to-face DETA Conference to a virtual platform, we hope to create a virtual experience that will provide opportunities and ways to connect, share and extend the learning via the unique affordance of an innovative online platform. Each session will be recorded to provide the attendees with opportunities to access and share sessions which they might have been missed.

The fees for the 2021 DETA Conference have been drastically reduced and information on this will be shared in due course. We are encouraging you to invite as many colleagues as possible including your postgraduate students to register for the conference. Even though we will not be able to welcome you physically at the University of Pretoria in 2021 and meet face to face, we are however excited about the virtual experience that we will be able to offer and we can’t wait to welcome you all online.

Sincerely

Prof Chika Sehoole