Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Conference
The student researchers and their faculty advisor attended this conference in October in Louisville, Kentucky.
Reflections from the Conference
Cassidy Bennett: Presenting at the Association for Educational Communication and Technology International Convention in Kentucky was a once in a lifetime opportunity I got to partake in. The convention was held at the Galt House in downtown Louisville and the theme of the convention was "Integrative Approaches: Meeting Challenges." The notion of integrative approaches is interpreted broadly into four categories but our research group fell under the integration of technologies into teaching, learning and performance. Our presentation took place in a room full of fifteen spectators and was projected on a screen. We originally had to split an hour time slot with another presenting group but they never arrived so this allowed us to take the full hour to present and answer questions from the audience. The whole presentation went very smoothly and our audience had nothing but good things to say about the work we completed and how it was presented. They were also very impressed with the mature work that we as undergraduate students were able to deliver.
In addition to presenting at the conference, I was able to attend many other speakers. Early Thursday morning I sat in on a presentation, which revisited two paradigms in relationship to technology integration in k-12 classroom curriculum. I learned how integrating media and technology inside a k-12 classroom has the potential to produce powerful learning experiences. On Friday morning I listened to another presenter who focused on the use of technology in k-12 education in Saudi Arabia. The presentation showed when technology is implemented, in this type of setting, there can be barriers to overcome. The presenter explained these barriers and ways to improve the use of technology in k-12 education. I was especially interested in attending presentations that related to k-12 students because it is the field in which I have a passion to teach for. Overall, the opportunity to partake in this convention was an incredible experience and I want thank all my supporters for funding this trip and guiding me every step of the way.
Teresa Sundholm: I feel that attending this conference was very informative for me, especially as a graduate student studying instructional technology. I was able to attend a few presentations and gain more insight into the career field and its variety of opportunities. I enjoyed meeting other professionals and hearing about the new technologies being used for education.
It was rewarding to be able to present our research findings to an audience. I was proud of my research partners and myself. It was wonderful to be complimented on our work and to have the feeling of being a part of the educational research community. It was a memorable experience and I was glad we had the opportunity to attend this conference. I am excited to know that our work may be used for future research and that other college students may cite our work in their papers. As I have now completed my work on this project with this presentation, I am pleased to have been a part of this project and what I have gained from this experience will be invaluable in my future educational and career goals.
Amelia Weigant: The AECT Conference in Kentucky was the first academic conference I had ever been to. It was also the first time I had gone on a trip with colleagues. I discovered that good communication, a friendly attitude, and preparedness helped ease the travel experience. At the actual conference I learned that most of the panels being held were to share findings on studies and research. The focus of the conference was practice, rather than theory. Before my presentation slot I went around and visited the other panels. There were several different formats available, ranging from long lectures to interactive poster panels. Our panel was a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation covering our research study on educational games and children. I am glad that we spent so much time rehearsing. Some of the other panels suffered because it was obvious that the presenter hadn't practiced enough and was unfamiliar with his slides.
Our presentation started earlier than expected. We presented for about 40 minutes, due to an extended question and answer session. 15 people showed to watch our presentation and they were very interested in what we had to report. They were very impressed by the fact that we were undergraduate researchers, as this is rare. My portion of the presentation lasted roughly 8 minutes and I handled every question that I knew how to answer. A few questions were too specific or dealt with education topics I was unfamiliar with. Overall I believe myself and my fellow researchers did a good job representing CSUMB at AECT.