April 2012

Quality research, international presence, and a cosmopolitan venue catalyzed a highly successful 2012 AERA Annual Meeting. Held in Vancouver, British Columbia, in the shadow of the snow-capped mountains made famous by the 2010 Olympics, the April 13-17 meeting was packed with sessions on education research studies and policy issues, invited lectures, and arts performances each evening in the foyer of the Vancouver Convention Centre. Nearly 14,000 registrants from 74 countries joined the action.

Arnetha F. Ball focused on the meeting’s theme, “Non Satis Scire: To Know Is Not Enough,” in her presidential address on “Knowledge, Power, and the Zone of Generativity.” Her address and four additional lectures from the meeting were videotaped for webcast:

• Opening Plenary Address, Linda T. Smith, “The Knowing Circle of Indigenous Education: It Is Not Enough Just to Know”
• AERA Distinguished Lecture, Jo-ann Archibald, “Hands Back, Hands Forward: Transforming Indigenous Education”
• Wallace Foundation Distinguished Lecture, William T. Trent, “Resegregating American Education: The Patterns, Old Issues, New Twists”
• Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award (2011) Address, Catherine Snow, “The Value of Practitioner-Research Partnerships: Literacy Improvement as a Demonstration Case”

Taking advantage of the gathering of scholars, AERA recruited 17 senior researchers to participate in brief interviews on their research and the significance of the Annual Meeting that will appear on the AERA website. These interviews included discussions with authors on their research presented at the Annual Meeting, as well as commissioned essays on the meeting theme.

A new communications feature in 2012 was Vancouver Preview, a series of electronic news items to inform the education research community about planned events and activities. Vancouver Preview alerted attendees to featured lectures, presidential sessions, AERA sessions, division highlights, and advice on travel and getting the most out of the Vancouver experience. As a follow-up electronic communication for participants, Vancouver News Spotlight emphasized featured sessions and events on a daily basis.

Media participation is always essential to getting the message of education research out to a broad audience. Coverage of studies presented at this meeting appeared in education and science publications, newspapers, and electronic and online venues around the world, greatly extending the reach of these peer-reviewed presentations and lectures. Journalists who covered the meeting ranged from local Vancouver Sun reporters to an Australian journal editor to a representative of Radio 786 in Capetown, South Africa.

The meeting continued its strong presence in social and mobile media. It inspired nearly 2,000 tweets using the #AERA2012 meeting hashtag, reaching more than 35,500 Twitter accounts. And for the second year, attendees could use the AERA Annual Meeting Program mobile app to access meeting information: This year, over 7,900 persons downloaded it.

Outstanding participation by education researchers, the excellence of the lectures and sessions, enhanced communications tools and reach, and a contagious spirit of enthusiasm combined to make the 2012 Annual Meeting a resounding success.