Conferences: making a good thing rather better?

Academic conferences: representative and resistant sites for higher education research

“…The existing research and writing on conferences, with some exceptions (e.g., Childress, 2010;Smeby & Trondal, 2005), tends to lie in the category of publication that does not count, according to Tight's (2012) classification system, as research in higher education, namely journals and books that are positioned within, and so marketed as relevant to, the disciplines from which they emerge. Though some of the literature on conferences takes a more general stance with regard to the nature and purpose of conferences (Elton, 1983;Hart, 1984;Hickson, 2006;Pereira, 2011Pereira, , 2012Skelton, 1997), most of the disciplinary work on conferences either focuses on the historical importance of a conference for the discipline (e.g., Carpay, 2001 for psychology;Gibbons, 2012 for English;McCulloch, 2012;Walford, 2011 for education), or on the necessity of working at conference practice for the improvement of the field or discipline (e.g., Jeffrey, 2003 for geography). A number of academics in applied linguistics are publishing on specific elements of conferences, from abstracts (Cutting, 2012), to the introductions of presentations (Hood & Forey, 2005), to question time (Querol-Julián & Fortanet-Gómez, 2012).…”

Writing about Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

“…The argument for active learning is, if anything, stronger for adult learners (Knowles 1970). This tension between what educators preach and what they practice has not gone unnoticed (Elton 1983;Haley, Wiessner, and Robinson 2009; Kordts-Freudinger, Al-Kabbani, and Schaper 2017), and several authors have discussed the characteristics of "learning conferences" (Louw and Zuber-Skerritt 2011;Ravn 2007;Ravn and Elsborg 2007) and how to promote learning at learning and teaching conferences (Popovic and Cassidy 2018;Campbell and Popovic 2018). Some learning and teaching conferences have moved in the direction of being more interactive and include audience engagement in their selection criteria (not applicable for posters, but essential for workshops).…”

The Culture of the Conference

“…Regrettably, this leads to a circular cynicism about reports which results in their remaining unread. The potential of conferences as, in Elton's phrase, 'change agents' (Elton, 1983) is thereby diminished.…”

“…The near-comprehensive checklist provided by Mack and Matheson (1983) gives a clear idea of the range of options. Similarly, a recent discussion of conference design (Elton, 1983) lists and describes the most significant and frequent formats employed. They are summarized here for convenience but those who wish to consider them more fully should refer to Elton's very clear and intelligent account of them: Culture of the Conference 123 (k) Group discussions (1) Exhibitions (m) Receptions (n) Conference dinner and conference entertainment.…”