CIES becomes vCIES
On March 5th, the CIES Board of Directors voted to cancel the on-site portion of the CIES 2020 Annual Conference in Miami due to the Corona virus pandemic. With less than three weeks before meeting was to start, the Society worked to convert the program to a virtual format, ultimately providing detailed instructions on how participants could join the many the different types of events using Zoom.
The conference organizers did an amazing job of creating virtual structures for more than a dozen different types of activities in such a short time. Although ultimately only about 15% of the presentations were available during the scheduled conference times and dates, additional ones were scheduled throughout the month of April and records of many sessions could be accessed during April as well. Keynote addresses and plenary sessions were almost all available. Eleven of the pre-conference workshops were transitioned to virtual workshops.
Welcome to the World of Zoom
Despite some problems, users discovered a number of advantages to participating in sessions via Zoom. One can enter and exit sessions without disrupting them – much better than getting up and leaving in the middle of a session. If you want to hear particular presenter you can check in to see if they are speaking. You can also initiate private text chats with any other participant who is in the session without disrupting the proceedings – a great way to contact a colleague you haven’t seen in a while. PowerPoint presentations are clear and easy to read on the screen and, if you use Windows Snipping tool, you can capture slides. And, of course, you can do other things when your interest wanes, as long as you turn off the video and audio on your computer so others can’t see or hear you.
CIE @ CIES – A look at the original program
The CIE network was well represented with more than 40 CIE/IE graduates, current students, and faculty members listed on the original program.
More than 20 current students were on the program. Some of their scheduled presentations included:
- Institutional Barriers to China’s National College Entrance Exam Reform: A Case Study Of Gao Zhong High School by Mei Lan Frame (right)
- Emergence of Public-Private Partnerships in Public Higher Education Institutions of Afghanistan by Hassan Aslami
- Accelerated Education Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning by Kayla Boisvert
- “I do what I think is right for me”- How African refugee women navigate the web of volunteer mediated supports by Mariam Rashid
(right) - Intercultural Experiences of Chinese Mobile Students in the Era of Internationalizations of Higher Education by Shamo Thar
- Alternative Education beyond Accelerated Learning: A Suggested Taxonomy and Program Examples from Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Philippines by Jennifer Flemming.
More than a dozen CIE graduates were on the program, coming from Afghanistan, Colombia, Kenya, Pakistan, and the US. Some of their scheduled presentations are listed below:
Aid Fragmentation; Commitments and Progress by Zia Ur Rahman Andar (right)- Breaking the barriers to integration of ICT in teaching in public schools in Kenya by Martina Achieng Amoth
- Hybrid Learning Approaches – Balancing the Formal and Nonformal Student Engagement Approaches for Students in Grades 1-8 in Ethiopia by Joanie Cohen
- Challenges and Opportunities of Minority Women in Pakistan for Social Transformation through Higher Education by Salma Nazar Khan
Changing Time on Task and Teacher Practice in Senegalese Reading Classrooms by Karla Giuliano Sarr (right)- Afghanistan Education Joint Sector Review: Key issues and lessons by Muhammad Hosein Vahidi
Also on the program were CIE/IE faculty members Ash Hartwell, Ian Barron, Bjorn Nordtveit and associated faculty members Beverly Bell, Chrystal George Mwangi, Laura Valdiviezo, Sangeeta Kamat, and Jacqi Mosselson.