SWECJMC - A Yearly Favorite

One of my favorite conferences is the Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication's (SWECJMC) Annual Research Symposium. After virtual meetings, it was lovely to be face-to-face again! The Baylor University team was an awesome host. The Friday afternoon crew is pictured below at the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC).

Research presentations interest me, but the panels are where I scribble notes to bring back to my own program. Here are some of my notes to self:

• Some programs are integrating AR, VR, and AI through digital clubs. "Playing" with the tools (like an Amazon Deep Racer) is OK as we explore what they can mean for news and brands.
• TikTok is a quick way to introduce AR filters.
• Writing Alexa scripts and working through AWS could be a good resume and skills boost.
• Programming a chatbot might be a good way to work through FAQs and think of stakeholders and target audiences.
• One faculty member encourages students to explore new technology and apps by assigning a project where they must find a new XYZ, teach themselves and then teach him. 

Another thing I love about SWECJMC is catching up with colleagues. Dr. George Daniels, University of Alabama, and I celebrated 22 years since our days at the University of Georgia! And I met Jon Zmikly, Texas State, after about a 10-year virtual friendship. I also met new friends and research colleagues and witnessed so many great presentations by graduate students who will be joining the faculty ranks soon. 

See you in Jonesboro, Ark., next year! 

Panel Power!

 

The 2022 Texas Women in Higher Education conference was a great event! I was especially proud to present on mentoring with Dr. Therese Pennell, Skyla Claxton, and Dr. Rochelle Gregory. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?! You never know if a panel will gel and this one did. 

Our participants really open up and shared their challenges and mentoring successes. It was as good as you could hope for -- when time is up and no one wants to run to the luncheon immediately. 

In the "it's a small world" category, we discovered that each of us had Tarleton State connections. Dr. Pennell and I know each other and teach in the same college. Skyla and Dr. Gregory have Tarleton master's degrees.

After two years of virtual-only attendance, I found the renewal and networking of a face-to-face conference to be exactly what I needed for the end-of-the-semester slide.

Until next year, TWHE! See you in Denton.

Poster share: Transforming regular class into an academic conference

Poster presentation from SWECJMC 2018. 

Follow-up: Encouraging Students to Jump In

Great news! Two of our Tarleton graduate students who "jumped in" and submitted papers to the Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication were accepted! It's nice to see their hard work acknowledged and the opportunity before them to learn from colleagues at other institutions and network at their first academic conference this November.

Congrats to Devynn Case for her ethics case study titled, "The tribe has spoken OUT: Survivor, transgender issues, and the Ubuntu approach," and to Logan Case for his research project titled, "Ratemyprofessors.com: Gender differences in student descriptions of professors."

Conference season: Encouraging students to jump in

Lately, I've been spending energy encouraging our graduate students to submit their work to academic conferences. Simply saying, "It's good for you and your career" is not a persuasive sell when students have so many other responsibilities vying for their attention and travel can be a financial strain.

Here is a list of reasons attending a conference as a graduate student (or undergraduate!!!) is a good idea. Please feel free to add:

1. Scope - You will see your academic field as a larger entity. We get used to our bubbles on campus. Your department is your world right now, but go to a conference and you will see how small that viewpoint can be.
2. Standings - Many times, I have very humble students who don't think they qualify or can compete on a larger stage. I am always so proud when they try, and realize, yes, I am as good (or better) than that student from a Research I institution. I've had undergraduate students rock presentations where they were the only undergrads at the conference. I've had master's students presenting at conferences surprised to meet doctoral students from top universities who reported being too nervous to attempt a presentation. 
3. Energy and Excitement - You will be surrounded by people passionate about your field. It's hard not to let that enthusiasm motivate you to something bigger. One student was so excited by all of the research he heard, that he exclaimed, "Dr. Maben, research is fun!" I wish he had come to that observation during my class...but it *is* fun to see what others are researching. Sometimes, the reboot is exactly what you needed during the semester.
4. Real People - I laugh when students tell me that Dr. So-in-so is actually a funny person when you go to conferences with her/him. I myself still fan-girl a bit when I see a researcher I have quoted in publications. Researchers and professors are REAL people. You can meet that citation you've been writing over and over, or get to know your own institution's professors better.
5. Extra Mileage  - You've gone to a LOT of work to write that paper or conduct that research. Get the most mileage out of it by presenting at a conference and then use the feedback to fine-tune the project for possible publication. In my master's program, I didn't think my work was good enough to present. Dirty secret: Yes, much of your work is presentable. Work with your professors to take a project from class-ready to conference-ready. This is another great way to get individualized help from your professors. Just think, down the road, you might be conducting research together as peers.
6. Ambassadors - By presenting at conferences, you are showing off your program and school. This is a commodity in the academic world. 

So, now you're interested in going. Let your professors know. They can help identify student-friendly conferences and how to submit a quality product. Your university will likely have money to help send you to conference (see no. 6). I have yet to hear students say that going to a conference was a mistake.

What selling point has worked best in your efforts to encourage (or cajole) students to attend conferences?

Mini-conference: Easy class transformation

Transforming your classroom into a mini-conference takes a bit of planning, but it's well worth the effort. For my graduate ethics course, I have been slowly adding more conference-like attributes each semester. You could do this for almost any level of course, with any student presentations. Students can get an introduction to conferences in a low stakes environment.

Our conference was Ethics beyond Utilitarianism: 2018 Case Study Conference, where panels of four students presented their cases in 5-8 minutes, with about 15 minutes left for Q&A.

Explain conference-style - Students may have no point of reference for "conference-style" so you will need to educate them about expectations for your field. Beforehand, I shared videos (through our learning management system) from our national conference to help set the stage. This is where you can share valuable tips like using your phone's timer to monitor your own time while presenting, checking the room's technology before your session, and having your presentation loaded on the presentation computer before the panel begins.

Room organization - If you're lucky enough to be in a room where furniture moves, organize your tables for a panel presentation in the front with audience-style seating for attendees.

Program - Ask students for the names/topics of their papers or presentations ahead of time. Work those into a program with three or four students on a panel. Print hard copies of the programs to hand out as students enter the conference.

Roles - Seek volunteers for moderators and discussants — or assign these conference duties to students interested in attending other conferences. Add their names/roles to the program. Remember to give students a short primer about these roles and expectations. Explain the role of the audience to ask questions, and when and how to do that.

Publicity -  Advertise your mini-conference to your department head, colleagues and other classes meeting at the same time. Outside attendees can make it feel more like a conference, and students can share their findings with a larger audience.

Debrief - Be sure to explain the conference experience after each panel finishes. You are essentially using your class as a conference simulation. We talked about how to facilitate networking following your presentation, adding your social handles to your presentation or nametag, how to handle wonky questions from the audience, and the awkwardness of being in front of the crowd while the other panelists present.

Individual feedback - After the conference, I emailed individual feedback to each panelist.

In the future, I want to incorporate live video feeds and answering questions from virtual attendees. My hope is that more students will consider submitting their work to a conference because they have had a small taste of the experience.

Squeezing into a 250-word abstract

Serving as a reviewer for a journal or conference gives you a glimpse behind the curtain of decision-making. Recently, I served as a reviewer for a conference that required a short abstract submission. Yes, it's hard to squeeze everything into 250 words....it's also very hard to judge a paper's potential in that amount of words.

How authors handled the 250 words was illuminating. Some made great use of the space and others wasted too much time on introductions. This brings me to my list of tips/observations about submitting an abstract (especially a short one) for a conference's paper competition:

• Don't waste too many words on an introduction. If you end up with words to spare, you can add a short sentence that introduces your topic. Have you ever been to a presentation where the "introducer" spends more time speaking than the speaker she is introducing?
• Lit Review. Include some sense that you have reviewed the literature and have a strong understanding of where your study fits. Mass cites and "e.g." can help save you some words. Here's a sample: "This work adds to the foundations of framing theory (e.g. CITE) by expanding..." You can do this in 1-2 sentences.
• Theory in a nutshell, a tiny one. Quickly mention the theoretical foundation for the study. You can weasel this in an introductory phrase like "Based on XYZ theory" or "Using ABC theory." That only takes 3-4 words from your 250 words.
• Research question(s). This is a short-form way to get to the heart of your study/project.
• METHODS. This is where I would spend a few more of your precious words. This particular reviewer (me) is looking for the strength of design. Were the methods suitable to address your research question(s). At the least, give reviewers words like "case study, experimental design, qualitative, quantitative or mixed method."
• Use shorthand when possible. To explain your sample size, (N=124) does the trick.
• Why it matters. End with what the study will offer to the public, readers, practitioners, academics, etc. 

So, my list is 243 words. It can be done. As always, read the instructions. Some writers neglected to hit the three questions the instructions specified. If it's a study in progress, you can say that.

How do you squeeze into a 250-word abstract?

Why regional conferences still matter

As I prepare for the Southwest Symposium at Arkansas State University's Mid South Campus, I was thinking about the benefits of regional conferences:

• Real connections — the smaller size means you run across people enough to really delve into conversations and potential research partnerships. You will likely even make friends.
• Manageable — not having to jump between two massive conference centers means you can also recharge your battery, and focus on what the handful of concurrent sessions have to offer.
• Leadership opportunities — volunteers are needed, welcomed and valued. That's not to say they aren't at large international conferences, but breaking into the leadership track is much easier.
• Cost-effective travel — locations are typically nearer, or at least cheaper options to where the big conferences annually host. Also, the conference fees are less expensive.
• New prof and grad student friendly — most of the time attendees are there to truly support and improve work, not tear it down. Grad students, academic veterans and newbies co-mingle for a nice mix of experiences and opinions.

At least these have been my experiences at the Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication (SWECJMC). Check it out for yourself: http://swecjmc.wp.txstate.edu/. Or connect to the Facebook page for updates on deadlines: https://www.facebook.com/swecjmc/.