Symposium on Experiential Education and Research (SEER)
The Symposium on Experiential Education and Research (SEER) is a research symposium that provides a venue for researchers in the field of experiential education to present, discuss, and further develop their research ideas.
More info on this Year’s Symposium …
Abstracts for Previous Symposiums:
2003 Vancouver, BC
2004 Norfolk, VA
2005 Tuscon, AZ
2006 St. Paul, MN
2007 Little, Rock, AR
2008 Vancouver, WA
| Read the closing remarks of University of Utah's Jim Sibthorp (pdf) from AEE's 2008 Symposium on Experiential Education Research (SEER) urging for a more intentional and unified experiential education research agenda. |
More about SEER:
Since 1999, the symposium has run concurrently with the Annual International AEE Conference and involves the presentation of research papers from the leading international scholars in the field of experiential education. The process by which papers are selected for SEER begins each spring, when a call for papers is released in the JEE, on listservs, and other outlets, asking researchers, graduate students, and practitioners to submit their two page abstracts to a blind, peer-reviewed process that is facilitated by the co-chairs of SEER. The papers are reviewed for relevance to the field of experiential education, research methodology, and logic and clarity in writing. The papers are then ranked and the top abstracts are selected for presentation at the Annual International AEE Conference. Papers are grouped according to emergent themes in order to facilitate conference attendee’s ability to hear the presentations of most interest to them.
In addition to the papers presented, opening remarks and closing remarks are offered each year by leading scholars, practitioners, and leaders in the field of experiential education. The goal of the having opening and closing remarks is to help instigate discussion and dialogue, a critical aspect of the symposium, in order to help practitioners and others see the value and role that research plays in the development of experiential education.
Finally, SEER also invites expert researchers to serve as discussants who distill the technical aspects of the research presentations to integrate each session’s overall findings and initiate discussion among attendees.
As the field continues to grow and evolve in a social, political, and economic context of evidence-based programming and practice, research will play a vital role in helping maintain and further the mission of experiential education in helping children, youth, families, and communities develop their fullest human potential. Research in educational, therapeutic, recreational, and other experiential learning settings are all welcome in SEER.
