Posts for Tag : Conference

Sharing classrooms, sharing worlds: The international CLIL community together again at last  0

“In classrooms on all populated continents of the world, learners are engaged in learning content in a language that they do not speak at home. Depending on where you are, you may know this as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) or under another name.

Through such approaches, learners develop as language users but also have the opportunity to broaden their horizons and to grow as global citizens. In these uncertain and even tumultuous times, having the knowledge, skills and attitudes to communicate across and within cultures and communities has never been more important.”

So read the text on the homepage of World CLIL 2022: a two-day conference that took place this month, dedicated to bringing together members of the extensive community of researchers, teachers and teacher educators who are engaged in CLIL and other multilingual approaches to teaching and learning throughout the world. The goal: Learning from and with each other in all our diversity, and in celebration of the diversity of our learners.

Based on the overwhelmingly positive response from participants and speakers, this goal seems to have been achieved.

 

Celebrating diversity

The conference theme referred to diversity among colleagues and also among learners. This was the common thread running through the four keynote addresses. Prof. Marisa Pérez-Cañado kicked off with an energising and engaging exploration of questions of “diversity, inclusion, and elitism” in CLIL settings, and of the extent to which old stereotypes still ring true. Prof. Joana Duarte followed this later with a reflection on how an asset-based approach to diversity, coupled with attention for global citizenship and intercultural communication, can help us to truly integrate the content, communication, cognition and cultures present in our classrooms.

On Day 2, Nihayra Leona focused on linguistic diversity, and how much there is to learn from the expertise and experiences of CLIL colleagues working in linguistically rich settings such as the Caribbean. Heading into the final afternoon, Prof. Fred Genesee rounded things off by exploring and dispelling the myth of the incompatibility between bilingualism and special educational needs.

Between these talks, we also saw a diversity of content, be explored in over 100 presentations, symposia, posters and workshops focusing on research, practice and combinations of both.

Together at last

In spite of apprehension earlier this year, when we feared Omicron might put an untimely end to years of planning and preparation, the hybrid conference ultimately boasted nearly 400 attendees, stemming from 44 different countries and six continents. Nearly two-thirds of the delegates attended the event in person, at Leiden University in the Hague. Among the onsite participants, there was a clear sense of excitement and readiness to once again engage in networking and professional learning by coming together in person.

That said, World CLIL would have fallen short of its goals if not for the 144 delegates who attended from afar. Online presenters and audience members attended sessions together with colleagues on location: a challenge to facilitate but well worth the investment. In addition, online delegates were offered the opportunity to meet informally in a ‘Meet&Greet’ networking activity. In the breaks, interviews conducted by ‘roving reporters’ in The Hague offered online participants a flavour of the onsite experience.

A further enrichment were the nineteen colleagues who had received a scholarship due to challenging local or personal circumstances, and were offered free online access. Due to the conference’s limited budget, this would not have been possible had the programme been fully offline.

And next… World CLIL 2024?

Now that we have got the ball rolling, it is time to hand over the baton. Our colleagues in Sheffield, UK, are already working hard on the preparations for their own CLIL 2023 event. After that, perhaps there is room for World CLIL 2024 in Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Willemstad or elsewhere…?

Through regular meetings in diverse locations, I for one hope that the international CLIL community will continue to grow in both its diversity and its unity, as we continue to learn by sharing our classrooms and sharing our worlds.

 

World CLIL was hosted by Leiden University, in collaboration with Nuffic, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht University and the Dutch Network of Bilingual Schools.

The organising committee: Geerte Holwerda, Lineke Ouwendijk, Franke Schuurmans, Rick de Graaff, Tessa Mearns, Liz Dale, Gerrit Jan Koopman, Helen de Lange. Not pictured: Onno van Wilgenburg.

Special thanks to the rest of the organising committee, to the PhD researchers from ICLON and students from the World Teachers Programme and the HvA who helped with the organisation and moderation, and to all who shared their work at this event. Interested in seeing what was on the programme? It is still available via www.worldclil.com.

 

Photographs by Peter Sansom.

Onderwijs met ict moet anders. Het roer moet om!  1

Docenten geven les met tablets en smartphones zoals zij altijd al deden. Afgelopen weekend bezocht ik de jaarlijkse IADIS mobile learning conference in Lissabon (http://mlearning-conf.org/). Een kleine onderzoeksconferentie met als focus mobiele technologie die het leren en onderwijzen ondersteunt. Veel presentaties zoals ruim 10 jaar geleden: mooie ict-projecten, opgezet door onderzoekers en ontwerpers, die vooral buiten het reguliere curriculum plaatsvinden. Veel betere techniek dan 10 jaar geleden, dat wel. Draadloos internet, tablets en smartphones zijn niet meer weg te denken uit de maatschappij, de school en het klasklokaal. Maar allemaal niet als onderdeel van de reguliere lespraktijk van docenten.

Doorbraak

Dat hoopte we met het onderzoek in het kader vaan Doorbraak ICT en onderwijs te doorbreken (https://leerling2020.nl/landelijk-onderzoek). In dit project hebben docenten uit het primair en voortgezet onderwijs experimentjes uitgevoerd in hun eigen lespraktijk om met ict gepersonaliseerd leren van leerlingen te faciliteren. Resultaten van dit onderzoek heb ik op de IADIS gepresenteerd. Maar wat wil het geval: overall gezien zien we van de interventies weinig of geen effecten op de prestaties, de motivatie en zelfregulering van leerlingen in het voortgezet onderwijs. Kort door de bocht:

  1. docenten passen hun experimentjes aan het rooster, curriculum en structuur waarin zij (behoren te) functioneren en doen dus wat ze altijd al deden, maar nu met mobiele technologie en
  2. het mobiele karakter van de ingezette smartphones, tablets en laptops wordt niet benut. Geen omgevingsonderwijs; leerlingen blijven in de klas en op school, op hun vaste plek. Het boek en de reader zijn vervangen door een tablet en de digitale leeromgeving.

 

Docentprofessionalisering?

Om dit te veranderen wordt vaak geroepen dat we meer moeten investeren in de professionele ontwikkeling van docenten. Eerlijk gezegd is dat ook een belangrijke suggestie die wij in het onderzoeksrapport hebben opgenomen. Maar het is de vraag of dit gaat helpen. En valt de docent wel wat te verwijten? Docenten passen hun projecten aan aan de reguliere methode en systematiek omdat zij hierop worden aangesproken. Er moet voldoende contacttijd zijn en alle geplande leerstof moet worden behandeld. Bovendien hebben docenten beperkt tijd hebben om andere dingen te doen dan lesgeven; niet-lestijd gaat op aan voor- en nawerk, administratieve klussen en overleggen met je collega’s.

 

Het roer moet om

Willen we een doorbraak bereiken in onderwijs moet het systeem om: meer ruimte (tijd, veiligheid en kunde) om onderwijs te vernieuwen, met ict of op andere manieren. Het roer moet om. Als wij kunnen aantonen in meer dan 40 interventies met meer dan 6000 leerlingen uit ruim 30 scholen voor voortgezet onderwijs dat het overall weinig uitmaakte of en hoe docenten gepersonaliseerd leren met ict in hun onderwijs inzetten, is het tijd voor actie! En dat is niet het afschuiven op de kwaliteit van docenten. Goed gebruik van de ict die nu beschikbaar is en moderne ideeën over hoe je leerprocessen van alle leerlingen kunt ondersteunen vereisen een grotere ingreep in het systeem:

  • Weg met onderwijs in kleine schoolvakken, maar onderwijs in grotere vakdomeinen en multidisciplinaire thema’s
  • Weg met individueel lesgeven, maar team teaching om ook ruimte te geven voor experimenten en leren van elkaar
  • Weg met het roosteren van al het onderwijs in contacturen, maar ruimte voor projectonderwijs, in en buiten de school, in de maatschappij en bedrijven

 

Geef docenten en leerlingen meer ruimte om onderwijs in te richten zoals zij dat willen.

Conference season kick-off  1

The tallest building was our conference venue – not bad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a quiet wintertime, the conference season has officially started! As a researcher, you experience certain peak-times during the year, which are often related to… conferences. For example, in August we usually have to submit papers for international conferences. In January, we submit papers for national conferences held in summer. And just before the international conferences which usually start in April, we have to finish our analyses, write papers and prepare for meetings with our international colleagues who are sometimes our advisors, co-authors or make up our reference-list.

As a lot of ICLON researchers will attend AERA (American Educational Research Association) in New York this year, I will write this blog about a different conference which not so many ICLONners attended: the NARST (National Association for Research in Science Teaching) in Atlanta, US.

Luckily, I was not totally on my own in Atlanta. Because I also have supervisors and colleagues from Delft, we traveled together. With two of my colleagues, we boarded a direct flight to Atlanta on March 8th, 2018. The all-American man sitting two rows behind us was a little disappointed when we told him we were attending a conference (he might have expected something more exciting), but nonetheless told us to “not let them cowboys snatch you up!”.

 

Our view from Amsterdam to Atlanta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our first day in Atlanta, the conference had not started and we did some sightseeing. Although Atlanta is known for many things (Martin Luther King, World of Coca Cola, Say Yes to the Dress, and according to Google the nicest tree-house AirBnB), we decided to go to the Georgia Aquarium, which has an almost 24-million-liter water tank hosting four giant whale sharks, several manta rays and loads of fish. Upon return to our hotel, we ironed our clothes and refined our presentations, as the next day, the conference would start.

 

Breakfast at the Waffle House – not so healthy but a must-do for the all-American experience!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whale sharks in the Georgia Aquarium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a great time presenting my research in a symposium hosted by my promotor, Jan van Driel, and the three other presenters which I had already met once at the PCK summit. During the conference, there were a lot of presentations by PCK researchers, and it was very informative. Gradually, I met a lot of people who I formerly just knew from their names, which often appeared on my reference list (for example Tamara Moore, Selcen Guzey, Barbara Crawford, Kennedy Chan). If anyone wants more information on the presentations given at NARST, I’d be happy to inform you!

 

I held my presentation during the last session of the first day. Photo by Dury Bayram.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I study the integration of engineering design activities and research activities (or scientific inquiry, as most American researchers call it), and this was the first conference where there were so many presentations and sessions on this topic. I feel that this topic might be more prominently addressed in American education as the National Research Council and the Next Generation Science Standards have also placed emphasis on the combination of research and design in STEM. The Dutch subject O&O (Onderzoeken & Ontwerpen, the Dutch abbreviation for Research & Design) which forms the context of the study I presented, also gained a lot of interest among international researchers.

 

View over Atlanta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After four days of conference, and 6 days in Atlanta, I flew home feeling very content with such a productive conference. At this moment, I am still having email conversations with people I met there. It was my first time in the US and my first time at the NARST, and I can really recommend this conference if you’re working on science education as well!

 

Anyone fancy a souvenir…?

 

 

Useful tips when attending a conference  0

Last week Tessa and I gave you an overview of our experiences from a conference (the ORD2015) we recently attended. We really hope you had fun reading our experiences and maybe related to it from your own experiences. This time I would like to be more helpful with my blogpost by providing tips when attending conferences. Or, actually I should say that I am only helpful by showing these tips to you… Other people have provided them; I asked PhD students from ICLON and other institutes to provide tips for when you are attending a conference.  The idea is that everyone (presenter, non-presenter, already having a large network, in a presentation not completely on your subject, etc.) attending a conference should find some useful tips in here.

 

Before the conference

Jorine Vermeulen (PhD  student at CITO and University of Twente) told me to be sure to prepare before attending the conference: Take at least half a day in advance to check out the program and make a selection of must go to session as well as sessions you can possibly skip for an extra break, some working, or a meet up with some people you really want or need to talk to about your project.

Daniël van Amersfoort (PhD student at Welten Institute, Open University) gave a tip you should think about when signing up for the conference: Always visit pre- and post-conferences or, in case it is being organized, a doctoral consortium; most of the times these meetings are more profound than the conference itself. In addition, these are perfect places to meet people you will probably also see at the conference!

In addition he says you should not only try to schedule where you are to meet new people, but: If it is a bigger conference and there are specific people, or even ‘big names’ you want to meet, email them months before the conference. Using this approach, I have sat at a table with almost half my bookcase ;-)!

Your conference presentation
So, try to stick with how you planned it 😉

Preparing a presentation for the conference? Bas Agricola (part-time PhD student at Utrecht University) has some tips for you:

  • Use the more standard building blocks for your presentation (theoretical framework and research question, method, results, and conclusion and discussion). This way it will be recognizable for you audience.
  • Considering your PowerPoint, Prezi, or other way of presenting you use; do not use too many words on your slides. Try to prevent from writing full paragraphs, use key words.

 

During the conference

The time has finally come. It is time for the conference! Time to do something with your preparations. But also, to be spontaneous; you didn’t plan that extra break for meeting specific other people? No problem, according to Nienke Woldman (PhD Student at Wageningen University and president of VPO): Do nNetworking at ORDot only attend presentation sessions. Make sure to have spare time to talk to other researchers. Making new contacts and maintaining ‘old’ ones is at least as important at a conference as exchanging information during sessions. Most of the times the scheduled breaks are too short for this. So, be spontaneous, decide suddenly to skip a session, grab a cup of coffee and see who you end up talking to. Sometimes at these, more quiet moments, you make really good contacts!

Daniël also made this point when I asked him for tips. Although he added: Do not stick with your colleagues the whole conference. You see these people often enough; go your own way. (also hearing Fleetwood Mac in you head right now?! I am….)

By the way, if you haven’t contacted those ‘big names’ do not think you’ve missed your chance. You have something to discuss with them? Do not hesitate to approach then and ask if you could discuss your research with them over breakfast or lunch.

Of course, during conferences the prepared presentations mentioned above are being presented. Are you presenting yourself? Bas has a tip for you: Share your doubts with the audience. Being transparent on the subjects you still have questions about will provide the best input for discussion and questions. And this in turn, will provide you with new information and thoughts to take home.

The idea during presentation sessions is that the audience is not a passive listener of what the presenter as to tell. Bas says: Actually, the same I just said about the presenter counts for the audience; share your thoughts. You do not have to be fully informed on the research subject of the presentation. You can always provide some new viewpoints on methodology and share your questions, criticism and feedback. Sometimes these new viewpoints are very refreshing for a researcher who is most of the time surrounded by his own research (subject).

 

How you can do this and what you can get from being an active listener, Tim (PhD student at ICLON, also blogger here on the research blog) shares with you.

Having attended several conferences as a non-presenter I would like to share some tips about ‘that what is not being said’. These can range from implicit assumptions, logical fallacies in reasoning, leaps of faith or simply not stating the obvious. To better understand the presenter and whatever it is (s)he is presenting about it can be very useful to make the implicit, explicit. For example:

  • Make notes (mentally or physically) during a presentation on which implicit assumptions the speaker makes about any theoretical models being used. To what extent does the presented study rely on the mentioned model or theory? Is it being assumed that this is the only theory? A complete theory? Is it being contrasted with alternative theories?
  • For studies which use a sample to generalize to a population: what exactly is the sample a sample of? What are the limits of generalizing the findings of the study? How representative (in size and characteristics) is the sample of the specific population?
  • For studies which use inference statistics: to what extent are the analyses explorative (e.g. no a-priori established hypotheses were made and many analyses were performed) or confirmatory (e.g. a-priori established hypotheses were tested)? What does this tell you?
  • For the ‘conclusions’ part of a presentation: are the conclusions sufficiently backed up by what was said before or are there hidden reasoning steps? If the given conclusions would not be true, would the presented study be able to found evidence for this? What are the alternative explanations or conclusions which may also have some – or maybe more – merit?

The goal is not to be overly skeptical, but to be sufficiently critical to look beyond what is being presented and (hopefully) learn more. This does not only help you to better understand presentations at a conference but might also prove helpful for your own studies, articles and presentations. But that’s just my assumption.

 

Now Jorine, Daniël, Bas, Nienke and Tim have flooded you with tips, I wish you a very fruitful conference the next time you attend one!

Borrel

Oh, wait before I say goodbye here is a last tip from Nienke:

Never skip a ‘borrel’! Enjoying a drink together can be the beginning of  the best collaborations!

 

Do you have tips that haven’t been shared? Let us know!