Learning More From One Another

I have been thinking about ways we might benefit from one another's trips to conferences.

Many of us on faculty go to conferences to present papers, but we also get new insights about our fields from hearing other people's research papers and professional panels. Some of us hear presentations about teaching or about issues in JMC education. I usually come away from AEJMC with new examples or topics to discuss in the classroom. Next week I will be attending the Online News Association conference to speak on a panel about our grant and consult on ethics. I am sure I'll also come away with new knowledge about developments in the profession that would be helpful to my students and journalism colleagues.

Some of our staff also attend conferences. For example, our Student Services advising staff will be attending the National Academic Advising Association conference next month. They may go to sessions that provide insight about students that the rest of us could learn from.

Not everything we hear is applicable to everyone, but I'd like to look for ways we can share things we learned that may benefit others who couldn't be there. I'm looking for volunteers to write short summaries for this newsletter when they come back from an interesting meeting. Please let me know if you're willing to do this for a future edition. Now that I've put this idea out there, I will make sure I do one about something I learned at ONA.

I welcome your ideas.