Discussing AERA

Well, yesterday I had a conference experience that I have never had before - I was a discussant at AERA. It was actually the first time that I was a discussant at any conference. I joked during the session, that when I found out that I was going to be a discussant, a friend at UGA asked if I was going to be a nice discussant or a mean discussant. Unfortunately I knew exactly what she was talking about when she referred to the mean discussant.

In any regard, it was an interesting experience. The five papers that I had to discuss were all interesting, which made it easier to read and then discuss them.

During the session I tried to tie the five papers together thematically - and I also tried to bring in an article on the topic and the from other AEARA sessions that I had attended earlier in the conference - and then mentioned the one or two things about each paper that jumed out at me while I was reading it (trying to focus upon things from the paper than may not have been in, or a focus of the presentation) and provided then with a suggestion for next steps or what I would be interested in hearing their further ideas on.

My discussion was well received, with two people from the audience asking me to e-mail my summary of the session to them and two of the paper presenters asking for a written copy of my notes on their paper. So overall I was pleased and it is an experience that I would do again.

Tags: AERA 2006, AERA, graduate student, graduate students, graduate school, higher education, education