Call for Proposals for 2025 KAERA Conference

Redefining Education: 

How Emerging Research and Technology Transforms Learning 

Conference Date & Place: April 23, 2025 | Denver, CO, USA

Proposal Submission Deadline: December 2, 2024

Conference Chair: Dr. Dabae Lee (dlee159@kennesaw.edu)

Co-Chair: Dr. MinSoo Kim-Bossard (bossardm@tcnj.edu)

I. General Information

You are cordially invited to submit a proposal for the 2025 Korean-American Educational Researchers Association (KAERA; http://www.k-aera.org) Conference, which will be held on April 23, 2025 in Denver, CO, USA. The mission of the KAERA is to promote intellectual dialogues among scholars in broadly defined education disciplines through research that examines critical issues of the fields and offers implications for education practice and policies. The conference will consist of mentoring sessions and roundtable research presentations. The 2025 KAERA conference will feature various sessions for graduate students, faculty, and researchers to engage in intellectual and professional dialogue as well as to build social and research networks.

II. Conference Theme

The theme for the 2025 KAERA conference is “Redefining Education: How Emerging Research and Technology Transforms Learning.” The rapid advancements in research and technology are driving a profound transformation of the education landscape. As educators explore various ways to integrate emerging technologies into learning, reimagine the educational use of existing technologies, and apply evolving educational research and theories, the traditional, one-size-fits-all approach to learning is giving way to a more flexible, personalized, and learner-centered model (UNESCO, 2023). Within such a swiftly transforming landscape, educators are constantly navigating and negotiating what constitutes meaningful learning experiences using various research methods, trying to determine what may serve their students best. 

Moreover, emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Extended Reality, Robotics, and 3D Printing, have broad impacts on how we learn and research as well as what we learn and research. As those technologies transform the global economy and change the demand for the future workforce, it becomes critical to equip learners with essential skills to perform complex and creative tasks and continuously adapt themselves (Dalvit et al., 2023; World Economic Forum, 2020). 

This year’s conference theme aims to explore how emerging research and technologies are reshaping the methods of learning and research as well as the content of learning and research. We welcome a wide range of research topics concerning learning throughout the lifespan (e.g., P-12 education, higher education, adult education, and lifelong learning) situated in Korean, American, and multicultural contexts. 

References 

Dalvit, N., Hoyos, R. d., Iacovone, L., Pantelaiou, I., Peeva, A., & Torre, I. (2023). The future of work: Implications for equity and growth in Europe. The World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/eca/publication/europe-future-of-work

UNESCO. (2023). Global education monitoring report 2023: Technology in education – A tool on whose terms? https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000385723

World Economic Forum. (2020). The future of jobs. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf

III. Proposal Submission

Eligibility: The conference is open to all education researchers regardless of nationality, country of origin, or specific subfields of education. Both KAERA members and non-members with or without an ethnic Korean background may submit proposals for review. KAERA welcomes research proposals that cover an array of topics that meet the broad needs and research interests of KAERA members and other education researchers. We welcome proposals for both individual papers and work-in-progress research. We highly encourage graduate students, along with other researchers, to consider submitting their scholarly work. 

Proposal Requirements: A proposal should be between 750 and 1,000 words in length (excluding abstract, references, figures and tables). The following components should be addressed in a document. All proposals should be written in English. Presentations can be delivered either in English or Korean.

1. Title
2. Abstract (less than 100 words)
3. Keywords (3 minimum)
4. Proposal document (750-1000 words, DO NOT include any author information for blind reviews) 
   1. Title
   2. Abstract
   3. Objectives or purposes
   4. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
   5. Methods
   6. Results/preliminary results
   7. Implications or significance

Format: All proposal documents must be submitted as a PDF document to Easy Chair. Do not include any identifying information (e.g., author names, initials, affiliation, etc.) in the document and the file name for blind reviews. 

Submission: All proposals must be submitted through Easy Chair by December 2, 2024, 11:59 pm PST. Please note that you will need to create an account in Easy Chair to submit your proposal. Once you create an account, you will be able to enter your presentation title, abstract, keywords, primary research methodology, and primary research area and upload your proposal as a PDF file. 

Review Process: All proposals will be blind-reviewed by at least two reviewers based on the following evaluation criteria.   

1. Significance of objectives or purposes
2. Articulation of perspectives or theoretical framework
3. Well-designed and executed methods 
4. Appropriate data sources or evidence
5. Grounded results and conclusions
6. Original scholarly contribution 
7. Alignment with the aims of KAERA and/or the conference theme. 

Timeline: The proposal timeline is specified below. Please note that at least one presenting author MUST register for the conference on or before Monday, February 17, 2025. Failure to register for the conference may result in the removal of the proposal from the program without further notice. 

• Call for Proposals: Early October
• Proposal Submission Deadline: Monday, December 2, 2024
• Notification of Decisions: Monday, January 20, 2025 
• Presenter Registration Required By: Monday, February 17, 2025
• Conference Program Announcement: Mid March, 2025

KAERA Best Conference Paper Awards: If your proposal is nominated by reviewers, it will be considered for the following KAERA Best Conference Paper awards. Only proposals that have not been published nor presented previously are eligible.

• One award for a graduate student ($500)
• One award for an early-career scholar ($500) who earned a doctorate within 6 years (i.e., after April 2019) at the time of the presentation.