AERA Conference

SSDATA_EDUC_AERA

Drs. Kevin O'Connor and Gladys Sterenberg recently presented results of their programmatic study at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. The theme of the conference was Knowledge into Action and was strongly linked to their research on theory-and-practice integration. Of interest to educators around the world was the design and implementation of school-university partnerships and field studies with community partners. Similar to our programmatic use of Professional Learning Plans (PLPs), Kevin and Gladys also had the opportunity to share what they had learned about their practices as they designed and implemented experiential learning opportunities within an integrated semester to support teacher candidates' ability to link coursework and field experiences.

This prestigious conference is the largest gathering of scholars in educational research. This year the conference was in San Antonio, Texas and there were about 15 000 participants. Kevin and Gladys received numerous requests to share practices and research findings with colleagues in Ireland, the United States of America, Australia, and Iceland.