Conference Summary

Nikita Mamedov

The University-Affiliated Courses Conference is a research-centric event that provides students an opportunity to present a scholarly-guided talk on a topic of their interest, guided through EdX and Coursera online learning. Each student has ten minutes to offer an academic discussion, emphasizing individual curiosities in their education. Each speech follows with a brief two-minute period for questions from the audience members. NAIS students enrolled in University-Affiliated Studies courses presented 45 talks on a diverse set of topics, as the rest of the schools attended the series of plenary sessions as listeners.

There are multiple reasons for holding this type of event, both for speakers and listeners. First of all, we strive to create an atmosphere seen in professional conferences attended by academics and educators. From the perspective of pedagogy, it is a surreal experience for students to be in a conference-like environment, as they get to listen to whichever presentations they wish. It is a new experience that opens up various hidden curricula not seen in their daily classes. Concomitantly, students obtain public-speaking experiences while sharing their knowledge, expertise, and thoughts with their peers. For teachers and administrators, this is an opportunity to see what our students are passionate about and which subject areas we can emphasize for their future studies. More precisely, students can find their educational niche and reasons to pursue further learning based on their presentation topics, which can favor students’ university applications since higher education admission committees value enthusiasm for research, self-discovery, and academic innovation.

We began organizing and planning the event in January of 2021. The students started taking their online classes via EdX and Coursera in the Fall of 2020 semester. This is the second semester that we hold the University-Affiliated Studies program. The final push for conference preparation occurred in the two weeks before the main event. Aside from organizing and schedule the registration and plenary sessions, the supervisors at the University-Affiliated Studies courses assist students with preparing for the presentation and centralizing their conference talks.

All students in University-Affiliated Studies presented at the conference, as it is one (of many) requirements in the program.

Everything depends on the particular interests of our students. There are numerous courses available via EdX and Coursera. Students have opportunities to peruse multiple subjects and sign up for the online programs of their choice. From sports marketing to performing arts, business, and sciences, students can tackle a wide curriculum range. While some students choose to focus on lower-undergraduate-level coursework, others proceed to pursue graduate-school-equivalent courses. It is incredible to see the plethora of interests and potential talents we are developing at the NAIS.

The exciting element of University-Affiliated Studies courses is the fact that students follow a self-regulated learning path. While we supervise and closely monitor their progress, students have complete control over the coursework they enroll in and how they pursue it, allowing them to expand their curiosity. Likewise, it is worth mentioning that the next component is to have our students enroll in actual for-credit courses provided by universities. A few students have already done that. We have had a select number of high-school students complete for-credit classes from Berklee College of Music. At the moment, we additionally have two highly-talented middle school students that are taking their for-credit undergraduate-level music theory classes. Kids can provide stunning results when they receive enough motivation and support from those who genuinely care for their education. A university-affiliated program is a transition in a university-driven direction. The purpose is to ensure that our students succeed when they go beyond the K-12 level. Tackling college-equivalent coursework produced by professors who teach in these universities and completing coursework that earns them a university transcript is how we do that.