ISFIRE 2018

Communities and Partnerships:  Strengthening Rural Education
Call for Presentations
 

ISFIRE focuses on the obligation of the global education community to influence policy aimed at delivering equitable and socially just outcomes for rural students.  ISFIRE offers an international forum for sharing research findings, innovative ideas and evaluated approaches linked to positive, practical action.

In our current global context, ISFIRE 2018 offers an opportunity for the rural education community to come together to celebrate the importance of rural education, discuss our common challenges, explore how research informs our rural practice, and share solutions to raise the profile of the teaching profession, support student learning, and honor school leaders.

Thank you for considering sharing your work to strengthen rural education.

Please use these guidelines to submit a presentation proposal. The link to the submission form is at the bottom of this page.

General Information

  • The ISFIRE Conference will be held on August 1-3rd, 2018 in Bozeman, MT.
  • The Pre-conference Emerging Rural Scholars Summit will be held on July 31st, 2018.

Presentation Information

  • Timelines
    • The Call for Presentations closing date has been extended to April 30th, 2018.
    • Review of presentation proposals will be conducted March 18th - May 1st, 2018.
    • Notifications of acceptance or denial will be delivered electronically by May 10th, 2018.
  • Presentation time slots will be 20 minutes each followed by 10 minutes for discussion.
  • AV Equipment: Projectors and screens will be available, please bring your computer/ presentations on a suitable flash drive. WiFi access will be available. Please note any special requests or concerns in the additional comments box. 
  • Proposals will be blind peer-reviewed for clarity on the following criteria:
    • Purpose/Background
    • Method/Research Design
    • Outcomes/Findings (preliminary or final)
    • Significance/Implications.
  • If you would like to share your handouts, presentation slides, or paper, those can be made available electronically on the ISFIRE 2018 website prior to the conference.  Please submit your materials for website posting to [email protected] by July 27th, 2018.

Submission Procedures

  • Submissions are accepted online. The link to the submission form is at the bottom of this page.
  • If you would like to propose multiple presentations, please complete a separate submission form for each presentation.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. The application provides spaces for up to three presenters. Use the email address you’d like to be used for primary communication concerning the conference. Any additional presenters should be listed in the “Additional Comments” section located at the end of the application.
  2. Provide a title of the presentation to be listed in the program.
  3. For the abstract or summary section, please provide a 250-word abstract describing the purpose, method, outcomes, and significance of the work. If your proposal is accepted, this abstract will be included in the conference program. 
  4. Please indicate which symposium thread(s) best connect to the work. (See the list below.)
  5. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please use the additional comments box.

Symposium Threads

  1. Fostering Community in Rural Education
    • Re-defining community (climate, capacity, culture) within schools
    • Connecting schools with local, regional, national, and/or international communities
    • Communicating effectively within and between communities
  2. Cultivating Rural Partnerships
    • Envisioning possibilities for potential partnerships
    • Developing goals for mutually beneficial partnerships
    • Sustaining effective partnerships
  3. Growing the Rural Teaching Profession
    • Integrating the rural context in teacher preparation
    • Envisioning options for rural teacher recruitment and retention
    • Designing and delivering professional learning in rural contexts
  4. Exploring Innovative Practices in Rural Pedagogy
    • Optimizing teaching in multi-grade contexts and non-traditional learning spaces
    • Meeting the needs of ALL rural learners
    • Sustaining and revitalizing Indigenous ways of knowing
  5. Fostering Rural Student Success
    • Understanding the rural student perspective
    • Integrating technology to support student learning
    • Building student vision for individual, local, global futures
  6. Building Capacity for Rural Leadership
    • Recruiting leaders within the school & community
    • Nurturing leadership development in students and teachers
    • Leading rural schools and communities to navigate change