2015 NAMLE Conference : Call for Proposals

We are now accepting proposals for NAMLE 2015, which will take place June 26 – 27 in Philadelphia. The proposal submission deadline is January 2, 2015.
We are living in a time of massive global change in communication, education, and technology. At the nexus of this change is media literacy education. The theme of the 2015 NAMLE Conference is “Celebrating Connectivity Across Cultures.”
The principle of connectivity captures the state of being connected as well as the ability to make connections between at least two or more points in a network. Connectivity also embodies the myriad ways that points and people are connected to each other. Just like computing capacity is determined by the interconnection of platforms, systems and applications, the efficacy of media literacy education is grounded in our ability to transnavigate geographical spaces, institutional boundaries, educational settings, and cultural contexts.
Our mission for the 2015 NAMLE Conference is to promote connectivity across education, organizations, policies, and even nations. To this end, NAMLE  is officially partnering for the first time with UNESCO and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Our conference will be the flagship event of the 2015 International MILID Week (media and information literacy and intercultural dialogue). This annual event brings together leading MIL universities and organizations from all continents. Our shared goals include promoting media and information literacy (MIL) as a way to foster social inclusion and inter-cultural dialogue. NAMLE 2015 will be the site for stakeholders, international organizations, universities, associations, research groups and teachers from all around the world to heighten public awareness of the importance of media and information literacy at a global level.
The site for the 2015 NAMLE Conference is the beautiful Philadelphia Westin hotel, in the heart of Philadelphia—the City of Brotherly Love. NAMLE draws on the historical foundations of democracy to provide attendees with networking opportunities, professional development, research visibility, and a venue for celebrating growth that has occurred under the “Big Tent” of media literacy education since our last conference held in 2013. Throughout this two-day conference, attendees will commune with one another to celebrate and inspire; to connect and network; to circulate new ideas and research; and to correlate future goals.

CONFERENCE STRANDS
We invite innovative session proposals that address the conference theme of “Connectivity across Cultures” in any of the four areas listed below. Proposal submissions should address cross-cultural or interdisciplinary approaches to media literacy education. We especially encourage proposal submissions from educators that demonstrate exemplary media literacy education practices and include or feature youth media makers as active participants.

• Intercultural/International Dialogue This strand will focus on social inclusion and inter-cultural dialogue. We are especially interested in proposals that heighten public awareness of the importance of media and information literacy at a global level.

• Explorers & Pioneers This strand will focus on issues that are relevant to newbies as well as experts in media literacy education. We are especially interested in proposals that address the following topics:

• Common Core Curriculum Standards
• National Media Arts Standards
• NAMLE’s Core Principles of Media Literacy Education
• Privacy Issues

• Research & Praxis This strand will focus on evidence-based research across community-based, P-12, and/or post-secondary settings. Proposal abstracts should be explicit yet concise about methodology (including types of data collected). Research can be in-progress or recently completed. We are particularly interested in proposals that illustrate collaborative research across settings and proposals that have practical application for NAMLE’s multiple constituencies.

• Integrating Youth Media/Modern Media Makers (M3) This strand will focus on the ways in which youth media are utilized as a method of engaging young people in media literacy. NAMLE is continuing its conference tradition of hosting young media makers from across the country and beyond to engage in on-the-ground production. We invite integrative proposals that connect with this conference-long M3 event and involve youth media makers as part of their practice. We are particularly interested in proposals that provide attendees with strategies, practices, and/or momentum relative to youth media programs, particularly in the areas of gaming, STEM, and STEAM.

SESSION FORMATS
Proposals will be given strong consideration if they magnify the principle of connectivity to engage attendees in interaction, discussion and shared discovery. Session formats are designed to engage attendees in ways that are participatory, innovative, and collaborative. Proposals should clearly indicate the benefit or “take away” for participant attendees. Presenters can select from the following presentation formats:

• Panel presentation (60 minutes)—This format consists of no more than four (4) individual presentations that collectively address an element of the NAMLE 2015 Conference theme. We especially encourage sessions that interconnect community members, students, teachers and academic professionals (Note: NAMLE reserves the right to coordinate panel presentations from individual proposal submissions on related topics and research).

• 5-Minute Media Monologue (5 minutes)—This format collectively showcases innovative ideas, projects, and research in the areas of media and information literacy. Similar to an “open-mic” event, the format challenges presenters to clearly and succinctly explain their work or ideas in just 5 minutes (similar to an “elevator speech”) potentially leading to new collaborative partnerships among conference attendees and presenters.

• Other Innovative Formats—We are committed to providing spaces for other creative presentation formats, including PechaKucha, performance, coaching, art work, video or other expressive media forms. Submission proposals must address one of the thematic strands listed above and provide a description of technical requirements.

HOW TO SUBMIT
Download a proposal template from http://tinyurl.com/NAMLE15proposal. Use the template to write an abstract of no more than 500 words that describes your proposed session. Make sure your proposal is formatted as a Word document to be sent as an email attachment. Indicate the authors’ names, affiliations, email addresses, contact information and presentation format in the EMAIL ONLY. Do not include identifying information in the proposal itself, as we will facilitate a blind review by the Program Committee.
Submit your proposal to: submissions@namle.net no later than January 2, 2015 11:59pm PST
Notification of acceptance will be sent in early February. Authors of accepted proposals will be required to register for the conference at attendee rate. (Registration information will be available on the conference website in January). Selected research presentations from the conference will be invited for publication in the Journal of Media Literacy Education. Certified P-12 teachers are eligible to receive professional development credit through Temple University.


OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS
We are also looking for post-secondary student attendees who are interested in live-blogging/Tweeting throughout the conference in exchange for a scholarship to attend the conference.

Sponsors