Moving Online in 2020: Lessons Learned from Successful Virtual Conferences

Many professional organizations have made a quick transition to move their in-person conferences to a virtual format. We experienced that exact need for transition and change with ISTE 2020. Although we were looking forward to attending ISTE in Anaheim in late June, these plans to attend an in-person conference became impossible because of the growing COVID-19 pandemic concerns. By delaying the conference for a few months, it gave staff time to plan, coordinate, and deliver ISTE20 LIVE: ISTE’s first-ever totally virtual conference held November 29 to December 5, 2020. Even the conference theme, Reinventing Education Together, challenged us to consider how we might adapt to and test new options associated with professional development and networking related to attending a virtual conference.

There are both benefits and challenges associated with trying something new, especially when it involves technology. But during this paradigm shift to virtual conferences, it does appear that many of the benefits might potentially offset the challenges (Liu, 2020). For most organizations one clear benefit to holding a virtual conference is the possibility of increased attendance. Hosting a conference online makes the content (along with the speakers/presenters) more accessible to a larger and often more diverse audience. At a recent state conference for teacher educators held in Iowa (i.e., IACTE), the registration numbers doubled as a result of delivering the conference virtually. However, increased attendance may not automatically result in increased income for the organizations. Several organizations are offering conference registration fees at discounted rates while some are even hosting their virtual conferences for free.

Another benefit commonly mentioned in conversations about virtual conferences is the idea of saving time and money because there is no longer a need to travel to the conference location. Although many of us certainly enjoy visiting conference locations and networking with colleagues and friends, others find it difficult to travel especially with shrinking budgets. For some, it is difficult to travel to conferences because of both job and home responsibilities. Keynote and featured speakers from all over the world might also become more accessible as time and money are saved because they no longer need to travel to a specific location.

One clear benefit of attending an in-person conference is the networking possibilities and hallway conversations that take place with colleagues. Although this is not perfectly replicated in a virtual environment, individuals who attend virtual conferences are often surprised about the high interactivity and networking that does occur during conference sessions and planned activities. Interactive tools like chat, polls, whiteboards, and breakout rooms found in these virtual environments can be skillfully used to engage participants in thoughtful conversation and dialogue with each other and the presenters.

Virtual and in-person conferences will need to co-exist in the future with the goal of capturing the benefits of each. It will be important for organizations, like ISTE, to strategically plan events using the format that best aligns and anticipates the needs of their members while providing them with both virtual and in-person opportunities to grow professionally. Clearly, organizations have had to adapt quickly to the virtual conference approach and the ability of organizations such as ISTE and the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) to move their conferences online has been impressive. Both of these organizations now need to assume a leadership role to ensure online conferences facilitate connections, prioritize inclusion, and support professional growth.

The articles in this issue of JDLTE contain examples and evidence for effective uses of technology to support teacher learning. The first article titled, The effects of argument mapping supported with peer feedback on preservice teacher argumentation skills provides evidence for an effective approach to develop preservice teacher problem-solving and decision making skills. The article titled, Using a multidimensional approach to examine TPACK among teacher candidates, extends prior research pointing to the necessity of using multiple sources of information to assess teacher candidates’ TPACK development. The third article titled, Instructor qualities and student success in higher education online courses investigates the role of the teacher as a factor that predicts student success in online courses and finally, the article titled, Preservice teacher perceptions of technology based competencies based on the new ISTE technology standards reports deficits in preservice teachers overall technology competence levels and that preservice teachers viewed their current technology education courses as insufficient in addressing their gaps for developing their technology skill sets.