Archives For Conferences

EdTech Conferences December 2018 to June 2019 – Clayton R. Wright

Dwayne Harapnuik —  November 19, 2018 — Leave a comment

Clayton R. Wright has released the 41st edition of the conference list. The list below covers selected events focused primarily on the use of technology in educational settings and on teaching, learning, and educational administration – Education Conferences #40 December 2018 to June 2019 Clayton R Wright.doc

You may wish to consider the following from Clayton’s email regarding the merits of going or not going to a conference:

Though some might question the costs and need of academic conferences now that digital communications is widely available (Colleen Flaherty, 2017), others note the cost of not traveling to conferences – the cost of academic isolation (Matt Reed, 2017). There are merits to both sides of the argument. One could attend a virtual conference one year and an in-person conference the next. Each type of event will offer different experiences. When it is feasible, most of us humans seem to prefer to interact in person. Also, a “serendipity effect” often occurs during in-person conferences – by wandering around and meeting different people, one discovers, by chance, the unexpected. I also hope that the serendipity effect applies to this list – as you review it, you may discover events that are not only new to you but perk your interest.

It is prudent to take the time to conduct your own due diligence for any events you want to attend or submit a paper to. Information on the list was accurate on the distribution date. When you view the list, information may have changed – such as the dates and venue – and some may have been canceled.

May the list assist you in pursuing your professional development goals!

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EdTech Conferences June to December 2017 – Clayton R. Wright

Dwayne Harapnuik —  May 12, 2017 — Leave a comment

Clayton R. Wright has released the 37th edition of the conference list. The list below covers selected events focused primarily on the use of technology in educational settings and on teaching, learning, and educational administration. Educational Technology & Education Conferences #37, June to December 2017, Clayton R Wright

Consider the following from Clayton email:

At the beginning of every conference list, I ask viewers to “take the time to conduct your own due diligence for any events you want to attend or submit a paper to.” Fake journals and conferences are scams. We need to be “scam-resistant” to academic communications just as we have become resistant to Internet scams.

A colleague in South Africa recently attended a conference that was presented like a symposium rather than in the multi-track format that was advertised. The 80-100 people in attendance all had submitted a paper and their papers were accepted. Then, they were charged a high fee to attend the “conference” even though there were no keynote speakers, only one room was booked for the event, and no meals were served. During the two-day event, each attendee was given 10 minutes to “read” their paper. No time was allocated for questioning the presenters. Neither were debates or other interactive sessions held.

Another colleague in Toronto said she receives “two or three invitations a day to write articles… The last one wanted $100 to review the paper and $2,999 to publish it.”

While assembling this conference list, I saw a photo of a colleague on a conference site. I contacted my friend and congratulated him on his speaking engagement in China. He said “What are you talking about? I haven’t been invited to Asia!” Apparently, without his permission, his photo and name were used to promote the conference.

As Alex Gillis recently wrote in University Affairs, academics are being reeled in by scam journals. (A number of organizations that produce questionable journals also produce questionable conferences.) Some educators have relied on Jeffrey Beall’s list of potential or probable predatory journals. But that list is now only available at the Internet archive. However, others, such as Walt Crawford and Hontas Farmer, have questioned the basis for including journals on Beall’s list. Thus, one may want to review the guidance provided here http://thinkchecksubmit.org and check your gut – if it doesn’t feel quite right, perhaps additional scrutiny is required.

It is probably true that the rise of such journals and conferences is due to the low investment one has to make to use the Internet as a distribution channel. But I wonder if we, in general, don’t bear some responsibility for this increase as we need to have our papers published or presented in order to gain credibility and to further our career. And, we want this done as quickly as possible. But, do we gain credibility if we submit our article to a journal that doesn’t perform peer-review or edit the material? Do we gain credibility if we present at a conference that doesn’t actively review and select submissions and does not allow the audience to question the content of the presentations?

The 37th edition of the conference list covers selected events that primarily focus on the use of technology in educational settings and on teaching, learning, and educational administration. I trust that you and your colleagues will find something of interest.

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EdTech Conferences June to Dec 2016 – Clayton R. Wright

Dwayne Harapnuik —  July 24, 2016 — Leave a comment

Clayton R. Wright has released the 35rd edition of the conference list. The list below covers selected events focused primarily on the use of technology in educational settings and on teaching, learning, and educational administration. Educational Technology & Education Conferences #35, June to December 2016, Clayton R. Wright

The consider the following from Clayton:

Attached is the 35th version of the educational technology and education conference list. Since the previous list was published, 89 events were added to June 2016. This version of the list contains basic information regarding 1, 511 confirmed professional development opportunities. Additional events are noted, but dates and/or locations could not be confirmed.

If you re-distribute all or part of this list, please ensure that the contact information (Clayton R. Wright, crwr77[@]gmail.com) is provided as that is how I receive updates. If you do not want to receive future lists, please send me an e-mail. If you can supply the missing information for some of the events on the list, let me know.

Do exercise your own due diligence regarding unfamiliar conferences that you may want to attend or submit a paper to. Thus, CHECK the specific conference website not only for basic information (dates and locations may change as well as the URL), but to assure yourself that the conference is legitimate.

You may recall that I wrote a rationale for the list and provided some conference tips to conference organizers in an article I wrote for the Association for Learning Technology, UK. Since I wrote that article, I have visited thousands of conference websites and can assure you that these three simple suggestions from the article are still valid:

Help viewers of your conference website by placing the title, date, and location of the event in a prominent place on the first web page of your conference site. Throughout the world, different standards are used to represent dates. For example, does 06/07/16 represent June 7, 2016 or July 6, 2016, or does 06/07/11 represent November 7, 2006 or perhaps June 7, 2011? Avoid confusion by spelling out the month and indicating the year in four digits. Remember, if this information is provided in a graphical form or is an overlay to a photograph, this essential information also needs to be placed in the text below the graphic or photo so that text-to-voice readers and on-line translators can interpret the data. Perhaps for stylistic reasons, numbers are used to represent dates, months, and years, but it can be confusing to the viewer. Listing only the month and day without listing the year is also confusing as a viewer never knows whether he or she is looking at the most recent web page – once an event has passed, not all web-pages disappear into the virtual ether.

Provide an explanation of all abbreviations used, including the name of your organization or association. People want to know who is organizing or sponsoring the conference so that they can decide whether the conference is aimed at them. Conference organizers often make the assumption that everyone knows the meaning of the acronym for their organization or conference. But if you are not a member of the organization or didn’t attend the previous event, what does the acronym mean? Not all organizations provide an explanation of their acronym – not even on their home page in tiny print at the bottom of the page! And, these organizations or conference organizers are less likely to make it easy for you to contact them by e-mail. I wonder how many potential conference attendees don’t make an effort to learn more about a conference because the organizers don’t provide enough information upfront and/or a way to contact them for additional information.

Link last year’s conference site to the new one. When an event is hosted by a different institution or organization each year, it is understandable that the new hosts would want to place the conference website on their institutional servers. But, there needs to be a link from the old site (URL) to the new site – how else will people who attended the previous year’s event find information about the future event?

Do share the list with your colleagues as they may find an event that aligns with their interests and professional growth. Please include 2017 events as your colleagues may be looking for a professional development event that is not held in 2016 as it is a biennial event. You could send them the attachment or direct them to Stephen Downes’ website, http://www.downes.ca/post/65309

May your day be a productive and rewarding one!

Clayton

P.S. You may want to change the font for the entire document. If so, press the “control key” (Ctrl) and the letter “A”. The entire document will be highlighted. Then, select the font and point size you prefer from the drop-down menu in Word. You may also need to change the footers separately by selecting “Insert” from the ribbon at the top of Word, then “Footer”, then “Edit footer” at the bottom of the drop-down menu. Next, press the “control key” (Ctrl) and the letter “A” so that all the items in the footer are highlighted. Finally, select the font and point size you prefer. crw

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Educational Technology Conferences for November 2016 to June 2016

Dwayne Harapnuik —  November 26, 2015 — Leave a comment

Clayton R. Wright has released the 34rd edition of the conference list. The list below covers selected events focused primarily on the use of technology in educational settings and on teaching, learning, and educational administration. An online version of the Clayton’s list can be found out

The consider the following from Clayton:

Whether you re-distribute part of the list, or all 93 pages, please include the contact information as that is how I receive updates. If you prefer not to receive future lists, let me know by sending an e-mail to crwr77[@]gmail.com. Also, if there are events that I should track in the future, kindly send me the basic information – date, title, location, and URL (website address).

Do exercise your own due diligence regarding unfamiliar conferences that you may want to attend or submit a paper to. Thus, CHECK the specific conference website not only for basic information (dates and locations may change), but to assure yourself that the conference is legitimate. There has been a rise in fake and predatory academic and scientific journals. (See http://ottawacitizen.com/technology/science/the-editor-is-late-fake-science-journals-hit-new-low, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/13/230 and http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/10/30/new-scam-targets-scholars). Similarly, there are a few conference websites that are designed to obtain your paper submission and/or your money, and give you little in return.

There are unscrupulous people in any profession including conference organizers and those who promote alternative lodging for conferences (For example, see http://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Consumers-Risk-Their-Vacations-When-Relying-on-Online-Travel-Reviews). With more than 1,300 conferences listed, some borderline events may have been included in the attached list. Let me know if you find any (as well as provide an explanation as to why a particular conference may be suspicious) so that I can consider leaving them off the list the next time.

Yes, I have updated the list prior to January 2016 and included items in 2017 and 2018. Why? Because some of the events are biennial or triennial, so you might look on the list for them in 2016 and notice they are missing. But, in reality, they will be offered at a later date. So, please don’t eliminate the 2017 and 2018 events when you re-distribute the list as it is almost impossible to predict whether someone is looking for an annual event, or a biennial or triennial one. In addition, people who want to submit a paper to a conference and/or apply for funding to attend an event, need sufficient lead time. So, please inform your colleagues of events occurring after June 2016. As information for a number of June 2016 events was not available in November 2015, I hope I can update these events when I compile the 35th conference list in May.

The rationale for the current format of the list can be found here http://newsletter.alt.ac.uk/2011/08/why-distribute-documents-in-ms-word-or-openoffice-for-an-international-audience/

The full conference list:
Educational Technology & Education Conferences #34, January to June 2016, Clayton R Wright

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Educational Technology Conferences for June to December 2015

Dwayne Harapnuik —  May 22, 2015 — Leave a comment

Clayton R. Wright has released the 33rd edition of the conference list. The list below covers selected events focused primarily on the use of technology in educational settings and on teaching, learning, and educational administration. Only listings until Dec 2015 are complete as dates, locations, or URLs. A complete listing of June events should be captured in the next conference list – normally distributed in November.

Educational Technology & Education Conferences #33 June to December 2015 Clayton R Wright

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