Required Proposal Elements
International educators are increasingly demanding more relevancy and depth in conference learning opportunities. The 2010 proposal reviewers and Annual Conference Committee will pay particular attention to how proposals connect with specific groups attending the conference.
To ensure value for participants, proposals must demonstrate the use of effective adult learning principles and practices. Proposals most likely to be successful are those that are informative and relevant, with clear and immediate application to the work of audience participants. Strong proposals will focus tightly on specific content rather than including every aspect of a topic, and will include opportunities for learner engagement during the session and beyond.
Reviewers will rate proposals on how well the elements listed below connect with and contribute to learning value for audiences.
For tips on writing a strong proposal, read the Proposal Writer Guidelines.
Click on the links below to skip to specific required elements.
Learning Formats
To ensure a balance of learning opportunities based on effective adult learning principles and practices, conference educational opportunities will consist of three basic formats. As you prepare your proposal, think about what type of content you wish to share and how you will deliver it.
The proposal submission process requires you to choose one format.
| Conference Format |
Description |
Pre-conference Workshops
May 30 - June 1 |
Precede the opening of the conference and are generally a half- to a full-day in length. Approximately 60 workshops will be offered, including the NAFSA Core Education Program workshops and those on a variety of topics selected through the proposal process. Open to participants who have registered and paid the workshop fee.
Workshops feature a participant-centered and highly interactive approach. Topics should be of current interest and provide substantive training and critical discussion. A specific proposal format, including budget, is required. |
General Conference Session
June 1-4 |
Standard concurrent sessions of 45, 60, or 75 minutes in length, open to all conference participants, with audience sizes ranging generally from 50-800. Plan a session with good coverage of fewer topics rather than limited coverage of many topics. |
Posters
June 1-4 |
Visual presentations displayed on tables and bulletin boards at a specified time and place, organized around identified themes. Presenters may speak with people who walk by their poster to answer questions and elicit feedback. Presenters must provide their own material; only the table and bulletin board are provided.
Poster proposals have a later deadline than sessions and workshops. |
Poster Themes (Fairs)
Individual proposals will be accepted within the identified themes. In addition, a group of individuals may propose a theme that is not one of those currently identified. The poster fair themes for the 2010 NAFSA Annual Conference are:
| Theme |
Description |
| Best Practices in Marketing and Recruitment |
Deep, long-term research in the dynamic field of international student recruitment has been elusive. This poster fair showcases individual best practices and case studies, as colleagues share results of their most current campaigns. Posters examine new trends and developments in international recruitment and how peer institutions are faring in today's competitive global environment. |
| Country Fair: Education USA & Embassy Dialogue Committee Member Interest Group |
EducationUSA overseas advisers and embassy representatives from around the world provide information about educational systems and advising programs. (By invitation only.) |
| Enhancing Learning Before, During, and After Education Abroad |
How can international educators help students make the most of their education abroad experience? Posters in this fair showcase orientation, reentry, campus-based, and curricular initiatives that institutions and organizations have implemented to stimulate, promote, and integrate learning at various stages of the experience. |
| Increasing Diversity Outreach and Support for Education Abroad |
Posters highlight innovative programs, support services, and resources to assist colleges and universities interested in expanding study abroad participation among underrepresented and nontraditional study abroad populations, focusing on sexual orientation, disability, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and academic disciplines such as science and engineering. |
| An Intensive English Program Fair: Highlighting Program Innovation |
Intensive English programs showcase unique program models and successful innovations in design of instructional delivery, orientation modules, host family programs, Web tools, field trips, quality-assurance practices, and other aspects of their offerings. |
| Intercultural Initiatives for Campus and Community |
Posters showcase programs from campus organizations and local communities that emphasize supporting international students and scholars and their families, and encouraging interaction between community members and international students to further intercultural understanding. As part of the Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship Knowledge Community's "Theory Connections" initiative, each poster in the fair highlights related intercultural theories, giving the audience an opportunity to view explicit linkages between theory and practice in presenters' work. |
| Internationalizing the Curriculum and Campus |
Posters explore best practices of curriculum and campus internationalization. Highlighted programs include those that enhance student, staff, faculty, and community engagement, internationalize disciplines and campus units, and utilize interactive technologies and other innovative methods. Other featured programs integrate various aspects of internationalization through strategic planning, critically consider practices of internationalization and/or apply theoretical models to the process of internationalization. |
| International Education Research |
Posters feature the most recent innovative and in-depth qualitative and quantitative research in the field of international education. They highlight important findings, perspectives, and academic inquiries in order to stimulate collaboration and provide tangible professional resources and educational understanding. |
| International Education to What End? Peace & Justice and Global Citizenship Revisited |
In partnership with the Peace and Justice Member Interest Group, this poster fair showcases the connections and synergies between on- and off-campus international education and education for peace and justice. It introduces relevant concepts such as global citizenship and public/citizen diplomacy, and demonstrates ways in which international educators currently play a role in fostering peace and justice. The fair also presents resources and relevant research available for this work. |
| Liberal Arts Institutions: Small & Residential: Institutional Collaboration |
Posters illustrate examples of collaboration between campuses, offices, departments, and students as they occur in small and residential liberal arts institutions. These initiatives and models may serve as catalysts for the development of similar programs at attendees' home institutions. |
| Updates on Country Policies and Higher Education |
Posters introduce and share current issues and trends in the policies and higher education systems of various countries, including new laws affecting higher education, new educational programs and institutions, and scholarships for students wishing to study abroad. |
| Work, Internship, and Volunteer Abroad |
The changing landscape of education abroad includes increased student interest in experiences involving global learning through work, internships, and volunteering abroad (WIVA). Representatives of programs of this type present their organizations' offerings at this poster session organized by NAFSA's WIVA Subcommittee. |
| Working with Sponsored Students and Sponsor and Program Organizations |
Posters highlight program agencies and sponsors, the diversity of sponsored student programs, and the requirements for participation in each program. They will also share information on how institutions can attract more sponsored students to their campuses. |
Audiences Targeted at the NAFSA Conference (Workshops and Sessions Only)
The NAFSA Annual Conference attracts a wide variety of professionals in international education, and most can be grouped according to primary areas of expertise and roles. The goal of NAFSA's Annual Conference Committee is to provide a balanced conference program with valuable workshops and sessions for each of our target audiences.
During the proposal submission process, you will be asked to identify to which of the following target audiences your content is directed. Please keep in mind that many of the roles outlined below include professionals both within and from outside of the United States.
| Area of Expertise |
Target Audience Roles Include |
| Education Abroad |
Program development staff; college/university-based education abroad advisers; directors of education abroad offices; overseas recruiting faculty and staff; faculty running education abroad programs; recruiters for outbound students; education abroad providers; education abroad advisers in secondary schools |
| International Education Leadership |
Senior international officers (e.g. deans, association deans, vice provosts for international education); senior campus leaders (e.g. presidents, provosts, chief academic officers); professionals aspiring to institutional or organizational leadership |
| International Student & Scholar Services |
College/university-based international student advisers; international student advisers in secondary schools; campus and community programming staff; international scholar advisers; human resource professionals; immigration practitioners; front-line office staff |
| Recruitment, Admissions, & Preparation |
English-language teaching administrators; overseas educational advisers; recruiters for inbound students; admissions staff; credential evaluators; sponsoring programming agencies; registrars; international enrollment managers |
| Teaching, Learning, & Scholarship |
Faculty involved in intercultural/international education scholarship; professionals interested in applying theory and research to practice; graduate students/post-docs; researchers; intercultural trainers; cross-cultural counselors
Learn about desired topics of proposals for the Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship Knowledge Community. (52kb  ) |
| General Professional Interest |
Anyone attending the conference who works in international education or has an interest in the field; individuals whose interest span more than one of the above areas |
Other Audiences Who May Attend the Conference
Conference sessions are not specifically targeted to these communities: non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in international development; immigration advocates; regional accrediting bodies; government representatives-- but they may be in your audience.
Level of Audience Content Knowledge
Targeting your audience includes defining the level of audience experience in the topic area to which your content is directed. NAFSA conference sessions are now divided into three primary experience levels that apply across all target audience groups. You will need to select one level of content knowledge during the proposal submission process.
Level I: For participants with little or no knowledge of topics covered in this proposal.
Level II: For participants with general knowledge of professional practice, resources or publications covered in this proposal.
Level III: For participants with strong knowledge of professional practice, resources or literature covered in this proposal. A highly interactive method of delivery, rather than lengthy presentations, is recommended for such proposals.
Size/Type of Institution for Which Content is Best Suited
Some content is best-suited for a particular size or type of institution. You will be asked to choose one of the following categories as you submit your proposal:
- Community college
- Undergraduate college or university
- Graduate college or university
- Non-campus service or program providers
- Elementary or secondary school
- Special focus institution/institute
- Non-governmental organization
- Any size/type of institution
Content Focus Areas
The Annual Conference Committee seeks proposals in specific content focus areas, since understanding in these areas is considered critical for success in today's international education environment. Besides identifying a target audience, developing and submitting your proposal includes deciding in which focus area your topic fits (see below). The ACC looks for a wide variety of sessions in each of these areas, and preference will be given to proposals that most closely fit the parameters of the selected focus area.
| Focus Area |
Description |
| Global Issues & Trends |
Trends and responses in political, economic, social, workforce, environmental, health, security, and educational areas that affect international education. What will global higher education look like in the year 2015? |
| Internationalization |
Aspects of the effort to introduce and build international, intercultural, and global dimensions on university and college campuses and in schools. Includes such topics as internationalizing field research, curricula, co-curricular and extra-curricular areas, and developing on-campus and off-campus partnerships and dual/joint degree programs and branch campuses. Other dimensions include increasing program and institutional capacity, managing international enrollment, and developing partnerships with faculty and administrators, as internationalization becomes mainstream. |
| Social Responsibility |
The roles international education programs, teaching, and practitioners - individually and collectively - can play in developing sustainable programs, meeting societal and environmental challenges, contributing to global civil society and global citizenship, and understanding and working toward human rights and peace and justice; ethical dilemmas faced by international educators in their work and ways to address them. |
| Advocacy |
Strategies and tactics for articulating the value of international education on campus, with accrediting bodies, in state legislatures, nationally, and with businesses to affect policies and gain resources. National strategies should correspond to advocacy objectives outlined in NAFSA's strategic plan. |
| Theory, Research, & Measurement |
The role, impact, and application of theoretical models; research methods and projects; and measurement and assessment of program effectiveness in international education. |
| Teaching and Learning in International Education |
Teaching and learning methodologies that have proven effective in international education settings; innovative pedagogical approaches; synergetic models of in-class and co-curricular pedagogy; non-U.S. based approaches to teaching and learning in international education settings; philosophies of learning and teaching; teaching and learning with international students; enhancing learning before, during, and after programs abroad; applying the concept of "meta-curriculum" in the context of comprehensive campus internationalization. |
| Technology |
Technology's current and future impact on international education initiatives and its use as a tool for supporting international education efforts. |
| Regulatory Complexities |
Information on government regulations that impact international education and exchange and related applications to the work of campus personnel. Includes U.S. government regulations impacting international students and scholars in the United States, as well as education abroad. Also includes foreign visa regulations for U.S. students and faculty going abroad. |
| Personal & Professional Development |
Skill, knowledge, and attitude development for international educators to enhance their performance in their daily work; strategies for career advancement and balancing work and personal life. |
| Other |
Innovative proposals of critical interest to those in international education that do not fit in other content focus areas. |
Delivery Methods
If you have decided to submit a session proposal, you will be required to choose one of the delivery methods described below. This choice allows you to focus your program at a deeper level of learning within the content area you've selected. Regardless of format, focus area, or delivery method, every proposal must include a description of how session participants will be able to apply immediately what is learned to their own work environments.
The ACC will select conference sessions to include a variety of the following methods:
| Delivery Method |
Description |
| Case Study |
An account of a project, initiative, or program from initial idea to end result. Proposals should detail the process, including what worked, what didn't work, and lessons learned. A key aspect of this approach is showing session participants how the content can be applied in their own workplaces. Accounts should include reference to relevant theory and research underlying the project, initiative, or program. |
| Panel Discussion |
A moderated discussion with not more than three panelists (plus one moderator); it is a discussion of the topic among the panel presenters, not individual presentations. The moderator must have a set of pre-defined questions to ask panelists and should incorporate audience questions and feedback into the discussion. The panel discussion showcases diverse points of view. |
| Panel Presentation |
Traditional presentation by no more than four individual presenters on the same topic, with each presenter addressing a specific aspect. |
| Point/Counterpoint |
A debate format in which the goal is to offer differing views, theories, perspectives, or applications of the topic followed by lively debate among the panelists and/or audience participants supporting one or more of the views or perspectives offered. |
| Roundtable Discussion |
An informal learning opportunity consisting of open, facilitated discussion without a formal presentation. Topics should be very narrowly focused and generally at Level II or above in terms of audience experience. Along with focused learning objectives, proposals should include an overview of key points or themes to be emphasized as well as specifics on how the discussion will be facilitated. Additionally, the proposal should explain how the presenter(s) will manage the discussion to incorporate the needs of participants. |
| Innovation |
A new delivery method concept. Content will be provided in a manner distinct from the methods outlined above. The proposal should explain the method of delivery and demonstrate the facilitator(s)' experience with this delivery method. Ideas include:
- Pecha Kucha - concise presentations held in 6 minutes, 40 seconds (20 slides shown for 20 seconds each). View an example of this delivery method.
- Speed-dating - participants stand facing each other in two concentric circles, then take 30 seconds to 2 minutes to exchange responses to questions asked. One circle rotates to the left at the end of each round so each participant faces a new partner.
- Meet the experts - Presenters are seated at round tables of 8; bell rings and participants move to their first expert. At the end of the session the bell rings and people move to their next choice.
- Open Space Technology - participant-organized and - driven sessions centered on a topic or theme. Guided by participant ownership and a set of simple rules: whoever shows up are the right people, whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
- Other new delivery methods welcome.
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