Call for Proposals, CALMet VIII 2009

ABSTRACT FINAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 31 January, 2008

The submission process for CALMet is now closed.

Beginning in 1993, the CALMet Conference has offered a forum for sharing experiences, expectations, and new ideas for applying emerging strategies and technologies in meteorology and hydrology education and training. CALMet conferences have served to build international working relationships that have had a large, worldwide impact.

CALMet VII 2007, hosted by the Chinese Meteorological Administration Training Centre (CMATC), offered attendees an exciting week in Beijing, China learning about training and education initiatives across six continents. This year, CALMet moves back to Europe once again to continue its tradition of seeking to bring its learning opportunities to a diverse and growing audience. CALMet VIII, 2009 will be hosted by the Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU) in the grand city of St. Petersburg, Russia.

The conference committee is now seeking proposals for presentations and workshops for the conference. Themes will center on using new tools and innovative strategies to create effective activities for learning meteorology and hydrology. Papers and presentations are being sought in the following broad focus areas:

•  Teaching and Learning

Presentations in this category should address pedagogical considerations in offering education and training in meteorology and hydrology. Promising new instructional approaches (not technology-specific) or considerations of learner needs and learning processes might be discussed. Presentations might address questions such as: What makes a good trainer or instructor? How do we create engaging learning experiences? What curricular changes are becoming necessary? What strategies will enhance the social aspects of learning? What differences exist between university education and professional training? How can learning theory inform our work? What kinds of learning and program evaluation are possible and useful? How can defining competencies drive education and training needs? What is good distance learning practice? What unique learning outcomes might be achieved from classroom learning and from distance learning?

•  Project and Product Showcase

Presentations in this category should highlight effective, innovative, and interesting examples of activities or instructional products for university education, continuing professional development, on-the-job training, and public outreach education.  In describing the activity, presentations should strive to address the following:

  • What were the project goals and high-level objectives?
  • What instructional or technological innovations were used, and why were they chosen?
  • How was development carried out? What difficulties were faced?
  • How did learners respond to the instruction? What difficulties did they face? What did they like about the approach?
  • Describe how assessment was/will be done and any available results.

•  Technological Tools and Innovative Applications

Presentations in this category should demonstrate promising new instructional technologies or describe innovative uses and combinations of existing technologies. Tools might include learning management systems, course management tools, Web-based presentation technologies, mobile learning, blended learning approaches, Webcast and lecture recording approaches, tools for creating active and interactive learning applications. Presentations should identify which instructional purposes are met by particular technologies or technological approaches.

•  Training and Education Management and Collaborative Activities

Presentations in this category should explore the challenges of managing training and education programs, and particularly, describe multi-organization efforts to share resources and collaborate to enhance capabilities beyond what any individual organization can achieve. Updates on the current activities of any new or ongoing collaborative initiatives and organizations will be of interest to the CALMet audience.

•  The Future

Presentations in this category will take a far view about potential impacts to our field. What emerging trends do we observe that might inform how meteorology and hydrology education take place? How are the roles of weather forecasters changing (and what are the social, technological, or other influences for this change)? What social, political, scientific, and technological trends may have indirect influences on our work?

You can choose to offer your submission in one of the following four session types, or you may suggest an alternative format. The conference committee may suggest a change of your session type to meet the needs and time constraints of the conference. International collaboration on presentations is encouraged, as are active and innovative approaches to conference sessions.

•  Paper Presentation: a traditional brief talk (approximately 20 minutes) during a plenary session accompanied by a paper that would be reproduced on the conference CD

•  Poster Session: a concise presentation of an idea or project that can be discussed more intimately with individuals and small groups during a focused poster session

•  Roundtable Discussion: a small group discussion (from 30 to 60 minutes) of colleagues with a mutual interest, focused less on presenting information and more on eliciting discussions and sharing ideas

•  Workshop: a session (approximately 1.5 hours) led for a large group (up to 30 participants), that allows for learning in a guided, hands-on environment. Due to time constraints, only a limited number of Workshop sessions will be held.

Consideration will be given to those submissions made up to January 31, 2009. You will receive acknowledgement of acceptance early in 2009 to allow sufficient time for obtaining travel funds and visas.

We hope you will consider submitting a proposal and/or attending this unique and valuable conference. CALMet is a wonderful opportunity to broaden your connections to the international community of meteorology and hydrology educators and trainers that you won't want to miss!

See the CALMet Website (http://www.calmet.org) for updated information and registration options. Conference registration information will be available on the CALMet 2009 Conference Website early in 2009. Visit this Website for links to that site when it becomes available.

 

For more information, contact the CALMet Conference chairs:

Patrick Parrish (pparrish@comet.ucar.edu)
Vesa Nietosvaara (vesa.nietosvaara@fmi.fi)
Vibeke Kristensen (vibeke.kristensen@met.no)
Liesl Dyson, (liesl.dyson@up.ac.za)

Or the CALMet 2009, St. Petersburg local organizer:

Andrey Belotserkovsky (belotserkovsky@rshu.ru)