Published: April 5, 2016
AERA_planning.JPG

As the American Educational AV名湿 Association (AERA) marks its centennial year, several scholars from the centennial state are helping plan the organization鈥檚 big celebration and annual meeting held April 8-12 in Washington, D.C.

Along with the AERA President Jeannie Oakes, AERA Annual Meeting co-chairs Kevin Welner and Michelle Ren茅e have built the meeting around the theme, , with key support from CU Boulder PhD candidates Michael Harris and Kathryn Wiley and UCLA PhD student Anthony Berryman.

The public scholarship centennial theme is befitting as this year also marks the 100-year anniversary of John Dewey鈥檚 influential book, Democracy and Education. Dewey maintained that scholars must engage democratically with 鈥減ublics鈥 in ways that raise awareness of social problems and foster an informed and public deliberation of those problems. With this admonition in mind, the planning team designed the meeting to reinvigorate the progressive aspirations that gave rise to the AERA professional community in 1916 鈥 hope and determination that research can strengthen public education, society鈥檚 most democratic institution.

Public scholarship exists in a wide variety forms, including conducting collaborative research with communities and educators, writing for audiences beyond other academics, commenting in the media, and testifying at government hearings, Welner said. Engaged scholarship is designed to inform civic participation, decision-making and action. With this in mind, the team organized 鈥淓d Talks,鈥 modeled after TED Talks, including a forthcoming talk by Bill Penuel, director of the .

The聽AERA Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of scholars in the field of education research. If you will be in聽Washington, D.C.聽for the meeting,聽be on the lookout for聽presentations featuring School of Education faculty and students聽and drop by the Colorado Reception on April 10 at the Convention Center, or聽tune in from home聽via . The聽AERA Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of scholars in the field of education research.聽

Related Faculty: Kevin Welner, Michelle Ren茅e Valladares, Kathryn E. Wiley, Michael Harris