反思2017年多伦多在线学习世界大会:我听到的和没有听到的

What I heard and what I did not hear: Reflections on the World Conference on Online Learning, Toronto, 2017

一般而言,学术会议是反映某个学科或研究领域的研究趋势和焦点的重要载体。因此,参加学术会议,不管是对于学科和研究领域还是对于组织和学者而言,都是极为重要的。举办和参加学术会议现在仍然被认为是有价值之举,但是,除了其他问题以外,学术会议日趋商业化以及提交学术会议的很多论文似乎严谨性不足和缺乏理论基础——这些问题引起人们的担忧。本文反思刚刚举行的在线学习世界大会,但目的不是说明笔者有何特别的见解或智慧。个人对学术会议的体验取决于他们与会的原因、他们的背景和(或)在本领域的地位、选择参加哪些活动以及参加讨论的情况。由此可见,对学术会议的反思有很强的个人色彩和主观性,充其量只是一些初步的体会。虽然如此,本文还是分享了笔者对2017年多伦多国际远程开放教育理事会在线学习世界大会的初步体会,并期盼同仁对文中提出的问题展开讨论。

Academic conferences are, in general, important indicators of research trends and foci in a particular discipline or field of inquiry. As such attending these conferences is the lifeblood, not only for disciplines and research fields, but also for organisations and scholars. While organizing academic conferences and attending these conferences are still accepted as worthwhile endeavors, there are concerns regarding, inter alia, the increasing commercialisation of these events, and a seeming lack of rigor and theory in many of the research papers presented at these conferences. In sharing my reflections on the recent World Conference on Online Learning, I do not claim any special insights or wisdom. Individuals' experiences of a conference depends on their reasons for attending a conference, their background and/or position in the field, their selection of sessions to attend and their participation in conversations. Sharing reflections on attending a conference is therefore intensely personal, subjective and nothing more than glimpses of bigger whole. Despite these limitations, I do offer these glimpses as an invitation to a conversation on the issues I heard, did not hear and wish I had heard.