Thematic Approach

GIRES, the Global Institute for Research Education & Scholarship based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, committed to creating a welcoming space for discussion and collaboration, in its new conference seeks to explore the social, cultural and economic impact of virtual education in our time of pandemic and beyond. 

All levels and kinds of education had to deal with the impact of the pandemic in the past two years. But what has been learned?

For a while virtual teaching and learning were considered to be the best — in fact, the only way — to cope with the global social and public health crisis, to meet the demands of students, teachers and parents alike.  The intense experience of remote learning reshaped educational contents and skills. Now we need to take stock of the enormous demands made on educational systems What has been lost, what gained — what now?

In all probability, future education technology will transform learning by giving teachers and students an even greater variety of new tools to work with. New challenges will need to be overcome. For those of us who care, where does this lead?

The GIRES Conference organizers believe that now is a time for reflection and future planning. We confront an embarrassment of provocative issues.  Now is not the time to walk away from these challenging issues, but to confront them and benefit from what we have learned, to examine myriad relevant key questions and seek viable answers. Aware how in some cases institutions and individuals either would rather walk away from the recent experience and deny the fundamental shift from then until now,  or lack the economic, political, logistical support to build on the lessons so painfully learned.

Woefully unprepared at the start of the public health crisis, most school systems now recognize the essential role played in education by digitalized, distance communication. How teachers and students have to keep relearning the high-tech, Edtech class room experience. At this point don’t schools need to provide the kind of updated, practical, technical training that is common in the world of commerce?  Don’t teachers and students have to keep relearning high-tech, Edtech class room conditions?

We wish to discover if the age-old humanism of teaching and learning has become obsolete in our digital age and to understand how the new ways of delivering knowledge and skills can benefit private and public, institutional and individual needs in the post-pandemic era.

GIRES invites scholars from all fields for which education in a time of e-learning is a pertinent issue — be it distance learning from the academic ivory tower or the on-the-ground communications needed in the world of business.  Relevant questions need to be asked and a wide range of answers achieved.  We particularly welcome contributions from the fields of social, political and cultural sciences and speakers from the fields of both educational technology and the world of language and skills training for specific purposes. Our GIRES conference is committed to the cross-pollination of interdisciplinary learning.

Proposed Topics (Lingua franca: English)

– The Developing Private-Public Relation of E-Learning
– Teaching Methodologies: structuring online vs. present-in-class courses  (informal vs. formal context)
– Breakthroughs and anticipations in the world of learning technologies
– Secondary and higher education: e-learning complements and contrasts
– Training for online e-learning: challenges and potential solutions for teachers & students
– Psychological aspects and physical health for students and teachers in the “safe” but socially distanced, solitary classroom.  Do the new distance learning conditions in a time of pandemic foster a society of hermits?
– What’s the relation between online learning & the subject taught?  (Social Sciences, Humanities, Hard Science)
– Disciplines/Fields of studies affected most and least
– Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Challenges (SWOC) analysis of online learning’s key issues and technologies during and after the current pandemic
– EdTech Start-ups and online learning
– Digital literacy and infrastructure
– Socio-economic levels & resources and e-learning
– Online knowledge dissemination: advantages, disadvantages, distractions and dishonesty
– Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Online Learning: the future of the teaching craft
– Post-pandemic E-Learning: What will be lost? What gained?

Proposed Formats (Lingua franca: English)
-Individual papers (GIRES will included it in a panel)
-Panels (up to 4 presentations-chaired by one of the presenters or appointed by GIRES)
-Roundtable presentations (chaired by one of the presenters or appointed by GIRES)
-Poster presentations
-Student presentations (one paper presented by up to 3 young scholars)
-Keynote speech (depending on the time availability)
-Pre-recorder presentation (s) (Asynchronous Platform)
-Pre-recorder presentation (s) (Synchronous-live- Sessions: live participation of presenter (s) during the Q&A sessions)

Publication Opportunity 
The Organizing Committee and GIRES Press will publish the most powerful and dynamic presentations of the conference and include them
in a collective volume in the form of short articles and/or long essays. For more information please contact us

Our proposed topics & formats are not restrictive and we invite additional germane ideas.
Due to the restrictions of Corona Crisis our event (for the time being) will take place virtually