ISE PI Summit 2008 - Session Types
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Plenary Sessions
Plenary sessions at the ISE PI Summit 2008 provide an opportunity for the community of NSF ISE PIs and other leaders to think about major issues that cut across the informal science education field. The two main plenary sessions at this summit, one on each morning, are designed based on responses to the 2008 ISE PI Survey (n=108).
- Day 1: Informal Science Education Town Hall Meeting
- Day 2: Discussing the Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects
Each plenary session begins with brief presentations. After which, time is allotted for discussion of the ideas, challenges, and issues presented. This may occur as a whole room Q&A period or discussions at tables.
We hope that the discussions will generate the kind of energy that informs the discussion group sessions in the afternoon as well as stimulates ad-hoc interaction in which participants work together on proposals, documents, ideas, or products that can serve individuals as well as the field of ISE.
Workshop Sessions
Workshop sessions are designed to increase participants’ evaluation expertise, share knowledge about visitor studies/informal learning research, and provide technical assistance related to administering NSF-funded grants. They are a mix of presentations, how-to, and hands-on formats, all based on responses from the 2008 ISE PI Survey (n=108).
Approximately twenty workshop sessions will be offered across four time slots, two on Friday and two on Saturday, each approximately an hour and a half. Some workshops will be offered multiple times. Participants are not asked to sign up for concurrent sessions in advance. Sessions with five people may be as, or even more, productive than sessions with 50. Please bring your expertise, as well as your questions, to workshop sessions.
Specific workshop topics will be listed in the final program. All registered participants will receive an email announcement once the final program is available.
Discussion Group Sessions
The ISE PI Summit 2008 will gather, for two days in one place, some of the top leaders and thinkers in the U.S., representing the diversity of informal science education. To leverage this opportunity, four time slots for discussion group sessions are provided such that Summit participants can discuss, share, and innovate with respect to (1) current and upcoming projects as well as (2) how to move the field of informal science education forward. The list of discussion group topics have been chosen based on the number of respondents on the 2008 ISE PI Survey (n=108) who offered to lead them. However, if you find you want to discuss something else, gather others with similar interests and grab a table in Salon 1. This is your time.
Please keep in mind that one purpose of the ISE PI Summit 2008 is to inform the thinking of the ISE field based on discussions among PIs, CAISE, the NSF ISE Program, CAISE Fellows, and other participants. To this end all discussion groups are asked to document their sessions. To aid in this task, a Word template will be made available as a download and in paper format. While some staff documenters will be available, many discussion groups will need to perform this function themselves. Discussion group documentation will be posted to insci.org following the ISE PI Summit 2008.
Project Showcase
Purpose
The message from the 2008 ISE PI Survey (n=108) was very clear: you, the NSF ISE-funded PIs, want to learn what others are doing, what’s been done, and what is energizing your thinking. You also want to network, collaborate, and build upon each others’ work. In addition, NSF ISE Program Officers, CAISE Fellows, and other Summit attendees are interested in interacting with PIs and learning about your work.
Structure
To meet these expressed needs, the ISE PI Summit 2008 incorporates Project Showcase sessions: one on Friday afternoon and one on Saturday afternoon. Each one-hour session, complete with afternoon refreshments (coffee, tea, sodas, mineral water, juices, and cookies), will be held across four adjoining spaces: (1) Salon 1-the main Ballroom, (2) the Foyer, (3) Balcony A, and (4) Balcony B.
Each PI will be given the opportunity to showcase her/his project(s). A challenge for Project Showcase format in ISE, however, is that projects span so many media formats. (This is also what makes the ISE portfolio of projects so compelling.) In order to facilitate sharing, three Project Showcase options are available:
- Option 1: A booth/poster. This includes half of a six-foot table with a science fair-type poster board (W36"x H48"), push pins, and access to a power strip. For this option, bring images, artifacts, laptops, or anything else you’d like to use to communicate the value, impacts, innovations, or what ever else will help you talk about your project(s). You can have more space if available.
- This option is now full. Option 2: Short presentation format. Designed with TV, film, and digital media in mind—though others are most welcome to use this format—we have the Balcony rooms, each with a projector and a screen. Because presenters will be sharing a projector, we ask that you let us know that you are choosing this option, and your project will be slotted into the program. Depending on numbers, we may be able to accommodate multiple viewings. For now, we ask that you plan to present for approximately 10 minutes.
- Option 3: You tell us! We are happy to try to accommodate special requests. For example, one PI has requested to present using a planetarium dome.
Please contact John Baek (jbaek@caise.insci.org) to let us know which option suits you, in ways that help you share the excitement, innovation, collaboration, and strategic impacts that are developing across the spectrum of the ISE field through your project(s). Please note that while the hotel has wireless internet, the signal is not strong or reliable in the meeting areas.
Project Pages
In preparation for the ISE PI Summit 2008, you will be asked to share information about your NSF ISE-funded project with the field. Based on the 2008 ISE PI Survey, many of you have expressed interest in learning about other ISE-funded people and projects so that you can collaborate, build on other work and innovate further. We'll do this via a new section on the CAISE-partner web site, www.InformalScience.org. We will send you an email in early July that tells you how to log-on and post project information.
In representing your ISE project as an online Project Page, you can share and disseminate information about your NSF ISE-funded project. This includes posting files (e.g., images, video, and audio), posting documentation (e.g., evaluations, reports, presentations, even the proposal), and website links. Other project information will include audience target, project type, and STEM content areas. Information posted on InformalScience.org is a searchable, lasting record accessible to the broader field, not just meeting participants.
Project Pages, printed or displayed on a laptop, can be one way of starting a conversation at the Project Showcase.