The 5th IAFOR International Conference on Education – Hawaii

IICEHawaii2020

January 10-12, 2020 | The Hawai'i Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Aloha and welcome to the beautiful island of Oahu, home to The IAFOR International Conference on Education – Hawaii (IICEHawaii), and The IAFOR International Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment – Hawaii (IICSEEHawaii).

Held in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, this international conference encourages academics and scholars to meet and exchange ideas and views in a forum stimulating respectful dialogue, by bringing together university scholars working throughout Hawai'i, the United States, Asia, and beyond to share ideas and research at the intersection of education and sustainability. Last year the conference brought together the President of the University of Hawai’i, CEO of the East-West Center, and Superintendent of the Hawai’i State Board of Education, as well as representatives of the World Bank and UNESCO. This year promises to build on the great energy and support and be even bigger and better.

This event will afford an exceptional opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, networking, and facilitating partnerships across national and disciplinary borders.

Since its founding in 2009, IAFOR has brought people and ideas together in a variety of events and platforms to promote and celebrate interdisciplinary study, and underline its importance. Over the past year we have engaged in many cross-sectoral projects, including those with universities (the University of Barcelona, Hofstra University, UCL, University of Belgrade and Moscow State University), think tanks (the East-West Center), as well as collaborative projects with the United Nations in New York, and the Government of Japan through the Prime Minister’s office, and right here in Honolulu with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for this conference!

With the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, we have engaged in a number of interdisciplinary initiatives we believe will have an important impact on domestic and international public policy conversations. It is through conferences like these that we expand our network and partners, and we have no doubt that IICEHawaii2020 and IICSEEHawaii2020 will offer a remarkable opportunity for the sharing of research and best practice, for the meeting of people and ideas. We expect the resultant professional and personal collaborations to endure for many years, and we look forward to seeing you in Honolulu!

The 5th IAFOR International Conference on Education – Hawaii (IICEHawaii2020) will be held alongside The 4th IAFOR International Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment – Hawaii (IICSEEHawaii2020), and many of the sessions will concentrate on areas at the intersection of education and sustainability. In keeping with IAFOR’s commitment to interdisciplinary study, delegates at either conference are encouraged to attend sessions in other disciplines. Registration for either conference will allow delegates to attend sessions in the other.

– The IICEHawaii2020 Organising Committee

Failautusi ‘Tusi’ Avegalio, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, USA
Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
Curtis Ho, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, USA
Barbara Lockee, Virginia Tech, USA
James W. McNally, University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging
Alex Means, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, USA
Michael Menchaca, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, USA
Sela V. Panapasa, University of Michigan, USA
Hiagi M. Wesley, Brigham Young University – Hawaii, USA
Xu Di, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, USA

IAFOR Journal of Education (Scopus Indexed Journal)

This conference is associated with the Scopus and DOAJ listed IAFOR Journal of Education.
 

About IAFOR’s Education Conferences

IAFOR promotes and facilitates new multifaceted approaches to one of the core issues of our time, namely globalisation and its many forms of growth and expansion. Awareness of how it cuts across the world of education, and its subsequent impact on societies, institutions and individuals, is a driving force in educational policies and practices across the globe. IAFOR’s conferences on education have these issues at their core. The conferences present those taking part with three unique dimensions of experience, encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating heightened intercultural awareness and they promoting international exchange. In short, IAFOR’s conferences on education are about change, transformation and social justice. As IAFOR’s previous conferences on education have shown, education has the power to transform and change whilst it is also continuously transformed and changed.

Globalised education systems are becoming increasing socially, ethnically and culturally diverse. However, education is often defined through discourses embedded in Western paradigms as globalised education systems become increasingly determined by dominant knowledge economies. Policies, practices and ideologies of education help define and determine ways in which social justice is perceived and acted out. What counts as "education" and as "knowledge" can appear uncontestable but is in fact both contestable and partial. Discourses of learning and teaching regulate and normalise gendered and classed, racialised and ethnicised understandings of what learning is and who counts as a learner.

In many educational settings and contexts throughout the world, there remains an assumption that teachers are the possessors of knowledge which is to be imparted to students, and that this happens in neutral, impartial and objective ways. However, learning is about making meaning, and learners can experience the same teaching in very different ways. Students (as well as teachers) are part of complex social, cultural, political, ideological and personal circumstances, and current experiences of learning will depend in part on previous ones, as well as on age, gender, social class, culture, ethnicity, varying abilities and more.

IAFOR has several annual conferences on education across the world, exploring common themes in different ways to develop a shared research agenda which develops interdisciplinary discussion, heightens intercultural awareness and promotes international exchange.

About IAFOR

Founded in 2009, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a politically independent non-partisan and non-profit interdisciplinary think tank, conference organiser and publisher. Based in Japan, its main administrative office is in Nagoya, and its research center is in The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), a graduate school of Osaka University. IAFOR runs research programs and events in Asia, Europe and North America in partnership with universities and think tanks, and has also worked on a number of multi-sector cooperative programs and events, including collaborations with the United Nations and the Government of Japan.

Special Themes and Areas of Focus

Authors have the optional opportunity of identifying whether their paper addresses either the 2020 IAFOR Special Theme and/or one of the ongoing IAFOR Special Areas of Focus.

IAFOR 2020 Special Theme: “Embracing Difference”

At a time when nationalism and ethno-centrism have become ascendant ideologies and provide easy refuge from the anxieties generated by globalisation and economic uncertainty, it is far too easy to see “difference” as a problem rather than an opportunity. Yes, cultural, religious, linguistic, and social differences can make us uncomfortable. They can be frightening, unsettling, and intellectually challenging. At the same time, they are enormously generative. It is only through encountering cultures and belief systems unlike our own that we learn anything about the flaws and limitations inherent in our own perspectives.

“Difference” is the source of innovation and change. While negotiating the difficulties of seemingly incompatible belief systems may pose tremendous challenges to us all, the payoffs for actively seeking out, celebrating, and working to converse across profound differences are manifold. As we learn about others, we learn about ourselves. And through those encounters, we have the opportunity to chart a future in which difference does not lead to violence, intolerance, or retrenchment, but instead is celebrated as the source of our collective strength.

IAFOR Special Areas of Focus

In line with its organisational mission, IAFOR encourages, facilitates and nurtures interdisciplinary research, with an emphasis on international and intercultural perspectives. Current areas of focus of the organisation include the following ongoing collaborative programmes and initiatives.