IoE researchers at the AERA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC
Elena Kardanova, the director of the Center of Education Quality Monitoring, and junior research fellow of the same center Alina Ivanova participated in the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). The conference dedicated to "Public Scholarship to Educate Diverse Democracies" took place in Washington, DC on April, 7–12.
Elena Kardanova made a report on “Applying the Rasch model to assess cross-cultural comparability of test scores” within the framework of a session "Rasch Measurement Significant interest Group”. It should be noted that it was the first time when a key speaker had been a woman, as well as the first time in the history of the session when it had been marked by a report by Russian researchers.
Other reports included: “Assessing and Comparing the Quality of Engineering Education: the case of China and Russia” (by Elena Kardanova in cooperation with Prashant Loyalka, “Valid Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education: Cross-National Co mparisons” workshop); and “Equating iPIPS measures across different countries and cultures” (by Alina Ivanova, “The Challenges of Assessing and Comparing Young Children in Different Cultures” workshop).
5 Reasons to visit the AERA Annual Meeting
1. To feel like the chosen one. The AERA application closing date is usually 9 months before the opening of the conference. On the one hand, this time could be spend on making a good report out of the theses submitted. On the other hand, one should decide on his or her participation well in advance. Competition among the applicants is really intense, so it is an honour to get an invitation. By the way, the next conference will be held in late April 2017 in Texas, so the acceptance of applications is about to begin.
2. To meet a guru in your reasearch field. This conference serves as a rendezvous of eminent scientists in the field of education and neighboring spheres. If you have the courage, you could always interview a couple of famous researchers in a conference hall. This year, among the key-speakers there were American researcher, economist Eric Hanushek (Stanford University), David Andrich (University of Western Australia), and the list of the guests also included such names as Michael Linacre, Andrew Porter, Linda Darling-Hammond, Warren Simmons and many others.
3. To take a look at the hottest research projects. In order to take part in regular conference sessions of the AERA Annual Meetings one needs to present a shortened version of a nearly completed, yet unpublished article. That is why its participants present their newest observations and findings.
4. To see your own research in a new light. Your own perception (as well as your colleagues’ opinion) could be blurred by one's local academic attitude, while researchers from other fields, countries and universities could give new momentum to the work you do. One could always find a person to share his or her ideas and matters of concern at the conference, as the AERA gathers thousands of researchers from all over the globe (14,000 people this year).
5. To get a boost of research ideas. Getting acquainted with outstanding researchers from around the world, listening to presentations of impressive research in a row, watching intriguing and visionary reports by key-speakers – it all is highly stimulating and triggers reflections on one’s own abilities and the future of the academic path.