February 2021

The open meetings and orientation sessions at the 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting, April 8–12, are just the tip of the iceberg for the more than 14,000 attendees who are expected to come to what is the largest virtual gathering of education researchers worldwide. When the preliminary program for the meeting opens on March 1, presenters will be able to find information on their presentation times and the schedule of all those accepted through the open submission process.

An updated schedule will be released later in March for special programming including the presidential sessions and additional featured speakers.

What users will not see when they search the program in All Academic is all of the ways that the virtual annual meeting platform is designed for attendees who typically come to an AERA place-based annual meeting and for those first-timers who will have a virtual experience far exceeding what most have otherwise experienced before.

In the program, there are three dedicated times for breaks each day (April 9 through 12). The one-hour break times are designed for social networking opportunities. Registrants will be able to set up text or video chats with up to 25 people. There is something for everyone in this virtual AERA space.

Presenters and other attendees are encouraged to participate in town hall meetings and other dedicated training sessions in March to learn more about the virtual platform. It is an intuitive, user-friendly platform with opportunities far beyond what attendees might anticipate, so they are encouraged to read the informational materials, attend relevant information and training sessions, and advance any questions ahead of time.  

All papers presented at paper and poster sessions will be designed for live and on-demand access through the AERA Interactive Presentation Gallery, which was launched with 2020 annual meeting paper presentations in January. Those with accepted papers and posters can watch two orientation sessions to the gallery that AERA offered in September.

The 2020 Annual Meeting Interactive Presentation Gallery includes some 450 presentations that show what the on-demand product will look like. Most important, those presenting papers at paper or poster sessions might wish to attend the orientation on March 8. Updates on the Annual Meeting information will continue to be released through AERA21 Insiders.