#AECT2017 Early Career Symposium: Now Accepting Applicants

AECT’s Research and Theory Division will be hosting the 2017 Early Career Symposium this year sponsored by AECT. The symposium will be held as a half day online conference October 28th and at the annual AECT International Convention on Tuesday, November 7 (half day 1-6 PM starting with lunch) and Wednesday, November 8 (half day, 7:30AM – noon, ending with lunch together with the AECT Board), 2017, in Jacksonville, Florida. The symposium will thus engage participants in a day and a half of focused career mentoring and networking.

The symposium will reimburse Early Career faculty and Advanced Graduate Students with the conference fee ($395 for Early Career Faculty and $240 for Advanced Graduate Students). Reimbursements are pending submission of receipts after the symposium.

http://www.aect.org/events/mentor/CareerSymposium.asp

Faculty Led Experiential Education Abroad Program Approved [Destination: Switzerland]

Last week, I received notification that the faculty led short term experiential education abroad program I proposed to the UTampa Office of International Program was approved. So, who is coming with me to Switzerland? The name of the program is “Teaching and Learning in Switzerland.” The study abroad advisor from the Office of International Programs mentioned that alumni can join as “non-degree seeking students.”

Save the dates: May 6 – 15, 2018

More info coming soon!

Link to full-text: “Posting, Sharing, Networking, and Connecting: Use of Social Media Content by Graduate Students”

Here is a link to my latest publication: http://rdcu.be/qiVq

[This is a view only version. Unless you have a personal or institutional subscription to the journal]

Abstract:

The purpose of the present investigation was to better understand graduate students’ use of the content shared in the social media channels of their programs and the perceived impact that their participation in these social media spaces has on the graduate students’ transformation as professionals. Seventy-seven instructional design and technology (ID&T) graduate students completed an electronic questionnaire. The results revealed that although graduate students use social media for personal purposes, they are not always followers or members of the social media spaces of their ID&Tprogram. However, those who follow the social media of theirID&T program found tremendous benefits from the experience. These benefits range from feelings of belonging to acommunity of ID&T professionals, to career opportunitiesfor networking, and cross country interactions.

[Chapter] #SocialMedia in HigherEd: Enriching Grad Students’ Prof Growth Outside the Classroom

Received notification today that the book chapter I wrote for the book “Digital Tools for Seamless Learning” published by IGI Global is now available. The title of the book chapter is: Social Media in Higher Education: Enriching Graduate Students’ Professional Growth Outside the Classroom. Here is a copy of the abstract:

“This chapter discusses the current use of social media for professional growth, focusing on a case study that uses social media to increase instructional design graduate students’ awareness and participation in professional growth opportunities. Social media metrics were analyzed from three social networking tools (Facebook Page, Twitter account, and/or Google+ community) that are used to communicate with the students in the program. Additional data was collected using an electronic questionnaire with open and closed-ended questions. The results show that graduate students’ participation in the social media initiatives for professional growth provided awareness of self-directed, voluntary, and informal learning opportunities; engaged students in conversations with their peers and the instructors; and allowed the learners to expand their learning experience outside the traditional classroom format.”

If you are interested in reading the rest of the book chapter, please feel free to contact me. I will gladly share it privately so that I do not break any “copyright” rules. Here is my email: eromerohall@ut.edu

IDT (or related field) Departments/Programs Social Media Spreadsheet

We (George Veletsianos, Royce Kimmons, and I) would like to compile a list of PUBLIC social media outlets that instructional design (or related fields) departments/programs use to interact with their graduate students. Please help us by entering the information about the social media outlets used by your program, in this spreadsheet [Thank you]:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19aNLroDOo9cx8sIZnnDOUO8s7WTSmPUqt7lovrbaiQE/edit#gid=0

Learning from Las Vegas #AECT16 [Recap]

It has been a year of conference planning and work in preparation for #AECT16. I am happy with the outcome of the Research & Theory Division (RTD) division sessions and I am confident on the quality of the presentations. Since I had several president-elect commitments I was not able to attend many of the sessions but I received good feedback from those who attended the sessions. Thanks to all that helped and supported the Research and Theory Division before and during the conference.

The preparations for #AECT17 started already. RTD PD Professional Coordinators are already working on the grant preparation for the Early Career Symposium. Our RTD conference planner & research and theory coordinator had their first Convention Planning Committee meeting. Also, during the RTD membership meeting several topics related to research methodology and theoretical perspectives were mentioned as recommendations for the professional development coordinator-elect to consider. The RTD board, specifically our past president, has already started looking for potential nominees to serve in our division during the 2017-2018 service year. We are also preparing to launch several initiatives that will serve to connect graduate students and faculty members.

On a personal note, I am so grateful to be part of the AECT family and all my other sub-families (ESU IDT, ODU IDT, and UT IDT). I am very grateful that I was able to attend the AECT conference this year (since I was not able to attend #AECT15). I made new connections with first timers or individuals who I’ve never had the opportunity meet in the past. As usual, it was great to see and talk to those who I consider not only colleagues but also my friends. Hope to see everyone next year in Jacksonville!

For quick access to the #AECT16 hashtag tweets click here: #AECT16 Tweets

#UTampa Honors Program Symposia [Presentation]

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of presenting to the UT Honors Programs students and faculty as well other UTampa colleagues and staff members. I presented on the topic: “Use of Social Media by Graduate Students and Programs.” This is a research area that I am currently exploring and I was able to share some preliminary results. Click on the image below to access the link to the complete Prezi presentation:

Audio Recording Session #SimulationDevelopment

Sneak Preview: #AECT16 Research & Theory Division Highlights

Yesterday, I purchased my plane ticket to Las Vegas (to attend the AECT 2016 International Convention later this year). This reminded me that I wanted to share a sneak preview of the AECT Research & Theory Division (RTD) sessions. As you know (if you read my blog posts regularly), I have the pleasure of serving as the AECT RTD Convention Planner as well as the Featured Research (FR) Sessions planner. The peer review process for all the sessions was earlier this year (it was not an easy process). The AECT RTD had a large number of good submissions and, at the same time, it had a limited number of allotted presentation hours (plus we had very rigorous reviewers). Now that the review process is completed and all accepted authors have been notified, all planners put together division highlights for the conference printed program. Below are the sneak preview or “highlights” for the AECT RTD and Featured Research Sessions. The full AECT16 schedule will be available in a few months.

Featured Research Sessions: https://cloudup.com/cZomjap6oqL

Research and Theory Highlights: https://cloudup.com/cs6T_t6JAID

For more info about the conference, visit the AECT 2016 website: http://www.aect.org/events/convhotel/

Photos of #CIEEIFDS Seville

Here are the images I was able to capture during the IFDS in Seville last week. I figured it was best to post this sooner rather than later because I wanted to acknowledge the amazing people that we (the seminar attendees) worked with during our time in Seville. Thank you to Oscar Ceballos, Carlos Pineda, Miguel Romero, Antonio Perez, Carlos Sanches, Ruben Diaz and Emilio Gonzales Ferrin. I would also like to thank the six ladies with whom I shared and collaborated with during the seminar: Collete, Rebecca, Nancy, Kaitlin, Ellen, and Rylan. Learned so much from you ladies!