Students depend on the conference to network, professionalize and improve their rÁ©sumÁ©s for future opportunities. In addition, for many students, the conference represents the culmination of several years of preparation and countless research hours. Therefore, when COVID-19 abruptly canceled this year’s Annual Research Conference, we immediately began designing an alternate approach to honor and celebrate our students’ hard work. Following are five strategies we gleaned from the process.

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1. Reflect on event purpose

We began planning the online event by reflecting on its purpose. As we know from the research on high-impact practices, students who participate in undergraduate research tend to experience greater gains in deep learning, critical thinking and persistence. In addition, the conference is an optimal way to recruit new students to research; audience members who wander in, come to support a friend, or receive extra credit for attendance often realize the positive impact undergraduate research can have as they watch other students present.

2. Boost interactivity

Bearing all of this in mind, we began researching ways to make the conference interactive and accessible. Because our schedule was already set and designed around student class schedules, we decided to use the original conference schedule, just at a later date: April 17. Next, we decided combining a mostly asynchronous poster session with a synchronous oral panel would be flexible enough to meet student needs.

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COVID-19: Rethinking face-to-face conferences

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