New Pub: Virtual Academic Conferences as Learning Spaces
The COVID-19 outbreak came with an unprecedented opportunity to investigate how the new reality of social distancing and limited international travel will affect the organization of academic conferences. Drawing on conceptualization of academic conferences as professional learning spaces, in this study, we examine the factors associated with the perceived value of purely virtual academic conferences and how such perceptions differ between participants from different research fields. The aim was to gain knowledge about factors that should be considered when designing a virtual conference. Survey data from participants of three different virtual conferences were collected (N = 311). Kendall's rank correlation and χ2-analyses were performed. Results show satisfaction with social interaction, the extent to which presentations met participants' topics of interest and the perceived importance of learning and getting an overview on the…
