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The 50 Year History of SACLA and Computer Science Departments in South Africa

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ICT Education (SACLA 2021)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1461))

Abstract

The Southern African Computer Lecturers’ Association (SACLA) is a formal association of academics involved in education, lecturing and teaching of Computer Science (CS), Information Systems (IS) and related Information Technology (IT) subjects at universities and other Higher Education Institutions throughout Southern Africa. SACLA celebrated 50 years of existence in 2021. The main activity of SACLA is an annual conference, where issues relating to CS, IS and IT education, teaching and research in Southern Africa are presented and discussed. Departments of Computer Science were established at several universities in South Africa during the period 1969 to 1970. SACLA started in 1971 as an initiative of IBM to “Teach the Teacher”. The 50-year history of SACLA is presented in this paper, and academics involved in the first SACLA 4-day conferences shared memories and documentation. The paper presents an overview of the 50 conferences hosted, related activities at conferences and the future of SACLA.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computing Sciences, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

    Andre P. Calitz

Authors
  1. Andre P. Calitz
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Correspondence to Andre P. Calitz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Wai Sze Leung

  2. University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Marijke Coetzee

  3. University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Duncan Coulter

  4. University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Deon Cotterrell

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Calitz, A.P. (2022). The 50 Year History of SACLA and Computer Science Departments in South Africa. In: Leung, W.S., Coetzee, M., Coulter, D., Cotterrell, D. (eds) ICT Education. SACLA 2021. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1461. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95003-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95003-3_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-95002-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-95003-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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