The Management Committee have discussed and put forward a proposal for a change of name from the Computers in Education Group of South Australia (CEGSA) Inc. to either “EdTech SA” or “EdTechSA”. The reasons for this proposal are outlined below. As a current financial member, you are invited to vote for or against this proposal as part of a majority vote. You can cast your vote by completing the voting slip that has been posted to you and then either:
- Bring it with you to the CEGSA Annual General Meeting on Thursday, April 4th at Education Development Centre, Hindmarsh at 8pm, or
- Return it by close of business on Wednesday, April 3rd to:
CEGSA Office
PO Box 147
Mitcham Shopping Centre
Torrens Park, SA 5062
Note: email or telephone votes to the CEGSA Office will not be accepted
If the vote for a name change is successful, the new name will be included in proposed changes to the Constitution at the Annual General Meeting.
Reasons for Change
There are two major reasons for the proposal for a change of name.
- The word ‘computers’ in our name limits understanding of the broader scope of the use of technology in education.
- Many people find it difficult to pronounce the name CEGSA and associate it in a meaningful way with our educational aims.
Due to rapid technological change, there is now a diverse range of mobile devices and web-based technologies used in education. The original CEGSA name was created in the 1980’s accompanied by a logo of a desktop computer and a mouse. Whilst the original CEGSA logo has long been removed in favour of simply using the CEGSA acronym, it has unfortunately been frequently mispronounced and easily forgotten or dismissed as out-dated.
The Management Committee proposes that “EdTech” is a meaningful colloquial name that is easily recognised and strongly associated with educational technologies. The hope is that the short name will not lend itself to being reduced to a meaningless acronym. The committee proposes that SA be added to identify our State focus consistent with other professional associations.
Therefore, it is proposed that our new name be written as either “EdTech SA” or “EdTechSA”. A concern has been expressed by some members of the Management Committee that the name “EdTechSA” could suffer from similar problems to those of our current name as people may not know how to pronounce it as “EdTech” followed by the letter names ‘S’ and ‘A’ (i.e. a shortened version of South Australia). Thus, there may be a tendency to blend all of the letters together to form a meaningless word. The committee did not wish to use the expanded name of Educational Technologies, South Australia.
Furthermore, as CEGSA is hosting the Australian Computers in Education Conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre on September 30th to October 4th in 2014 (ACEC2014), it is opportune to associate our significant investment in marketing this event associated with our new name (rather than continue to promote CEGSA and then change our name).
Conclusion
The Management Committee proposes that the name of the Computers in Education Group of South Australia (CEGSA) be changed to a more meaningful name that reflects the use of a diverse range of technologies in education. The committee firmly believes the proposed name change to “EdTech SA” or “EdTechSA” will result in even more enthusiasm around our mission to promote and support teaching and learning with technology across all year levels and school sectors.
Dr. Trudy Sweeney
CEGSA President on behalf of the Management Committee
Anne Ballard
David Horsell
Paul Huebl
Jacqui Knipe
Steven Knipe
Ralph Leonard
Kim Martin
Gary Pascoe
Cherie Pickering
Tina Photakis
Graham Taylor
Al Upton
Sue Urban
