[NOTE: See the NCA website for more presence-related calls. –Matthew]

Calls for Submissions:

Experiential Learning in Communication Division
National Communication Association (NCA) 2025 Conference
November 20-23, 2025
Denver, Colorado, USA
https://www.natcom.org/call-submissions

Submission deadline: March 31, 2025

The Experiential Learning in Communication Division of NCA welcomes your submissions for our 2025 sessions in Denver, Colorado. Experiential learning involves creating and facilitating direct, practical learning experiences for students and asking them to reflect on the learning process. This division focuses on the practice of experiential learning with the goal of understanding the process and impacts of the communication process in our world. Forms of experiential learning include:

• Community-Based Learning
• Internships and Practicum
• Study Abroad
• Service-Learning
• Simulations (Immersive Technology, Narrative Experiences, etc.)

The division would like to especially encourage 1) research and essays related to the role, value, opportunities, challenges, and assessed outcomes of experiential learning, 2) research and essays that highlight the contribution of experiential learning to communication theory and practice, 3) SPARK interactive session contributions (a hallmark of the Experiential Learning Division) designed to share teaching and project ideas related to service-learning and other types of experiential pedagogy, 4) Play! Interactive session contributions (new to the Experiential Learning Division in 2023) designed to inspire learning through participating in games and engaged learning activities, and 5) submissions from those in divisions across the association that feature experiential learning as a core pedagogy.

Reviewers will look for submissions that show evidence of:

• Theoretical and/or practical contribution to experiential learning
• Highlight new directions in experiential learning practice
• Connect experiential learning with other areas of the discipline

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All submissions must be made via NCA Convention Central and must not include identifying information. Instructions on how to prepare an unidentifiable copy are provided in the Convention Library. Submitters should NOT upload a separate cover page, or any file with identifying information in the document text or properties. AV requests must be made at the time of the submission. All submitters are encouraged to also review the Professional Standards for Convention Participants prior to submission. Helpful resources, including live and recorded step-by-step instructions on how to submit, are available in the Convention Library.

The Experiential Learning in Communication Division welcomes the following types of submissions:

• Individual Papers
• Individual SPARK: Innovations in Practice submissions
• Individual Play!: Innovations in Practice submissions
• Paper Sessions

Individual Papers:

Individual Paper submissions will withhold identifying information and submitters should:

• Complete the required electronic submission fields including title, description (75-100 words), author(s), and keywords. Please indicate at the top of the manuscript if your submission is a student paper.
• Upload a completed copy of your (30-page maximum) manuscript, double-spaced, 12-point font. The title page and file name should not include identifying information about the author(s). Indicate on the first page or with a header if you are a student. Student authored papers should select the student-authored status on the electronic submission form.
• If your paper includes data from participants, it is important that authors give more attention to the ways in which their analysis/discussion is limited by their sample demographics. Papers that include data from participants should include concrete reflection on the demographic diversity of the sample (or lack thereof) and must speak about the ways in which sample demographics shape the boundaries of the conclusions being reached, as per criterion of sample representativeness. This reflection must go beyond the limitations sections in the discussion. Papers with data from participants that do not meet this requirement will not be paneled.
• Students whose submission is based on a larger work (e.g., thesis or dissertation) should adhere to generally accepted standards for convention papers/research articles regarding length, organization, and style.
• Please indicate if you are willing to present the paper in a Scholar to Scholar interactive format (poster session) by checking the appropriate agreement box. These highly interactive sessions encourage dialogue and discussion about your research results and teaching ideas. Presenters from across the Association are clustered together and share their ideas one-on-one with session attendees. Wandering Scholars will engage presenters and provide feedback on the projects.

Our division offers a Top Paper Award. We also offer a Top Student Paper Award: The Dr. Rozell Duncan Award for Excellence in Research, which honors the memory and substantial contributions of Dr. Duncan to the Experiential Learning Division and to her students.

SPARK: Innovation In Practice Submission:

SPARK submissions will withhold submitter names.

Submitters should select “Individual Paper” as the submission type when making a SPARK Submission. In order to ensure that your Submission is correctly reviewed, the first word of the Submission Title MUST be “SPARK.”

This session, similar to GIFTS Discussion Circles, has been highly successful as it invites participants to share exemplary experiential learning practice innovations in a group setting where attendees can interact with the presenters. The concept is to “SPARK” new ideas for shaping experiential learning that might include specific projects, the development of a course with experiential learning at its core, innovations in Study Abroad experiences, techniques for reflection, suggestions for evaluating experiential projects, or tools and resources developed to support experiential learning (i.e., guides to working with community partners).

If accepted for inclusion in the SPARK Innovation in Practice Session, each presenter will give a 3-minute quick summation of their project/course. After the brief presentations, the audience will then visit presenters based on their interests/needs to learn more about specific projects.

Upload a completed copy of your (10-page maximum) SPARK submission, double-spaced, 12-point font. While you do not need to remove any identifying information about your university or program, submitters should not include their name in the supporting file document.

Your SPARK submission (10 pages maximum) must include the following in the uploaded supporting file document:

A two-to-three-page narrative that identifies the elements below that are relevant:

• The form of experiential learning being employed
• The goals of using experiential learning in this context
• How this represents an innovation in practice (i.e. how the submission highlights an innovative project, pedagogical approach, partnership, related assignments, reflection practices, learning outcomes, assessment, etc.)
• The participants –class, level of students, number of students
• Any audience or community partners (if applicable)
• The ways that reflection is used to connect service and learning or to advance the experiential learning cycle

Up to seven (7) pages of related material that help describe and highlight the project and helps reviewers assess the quality and scope of the project

• Submitters will best determine what to include but you might consider such things as the course description, explanation of major assignments, reflection questions/prompts, examples of final projects, assessment data, reflections from students and/or community partners

Incomplete submissions will not be considered for the convention.

If accepted to the program, presenters agree to provide either electronic files or hard copies of a one-page handout to participants at the Spark session.

The Division offers a Top SPARK Award.

PLAY! Submissions:

Play! submissions will withhold submitter names.

Submitters should select “Individual Paper” as the submission type when making a Play! Submission. In order to ensure that your Submission is correctly reviewed, the first word of the Submission Title MUST be “Play!”

This session, similar to GIFTS Discussion Circles, invites participants to share exemplary experiential learning practice innovations in a group setting where attendees participate in games and activities that inspire learning through movement and engagement.

Play! sessions, new at the 2023 NCA convention, give everyone the opportunity to Play! John Dewey said, “Give the students something to do, not something to learn, and the doing is such of a nature as to demand thinking, learning naturally results.” In today’s world, the time to play and enjoy ourselves is necessary and sometimes elusive. This is also true in our classrooms. As educators, we forget that we can teach, learn and enjoy.

Presenters will provide an activity or series of activities that participants can engage in. Stations will be set up around the room so that all participants can play and learn. A focus on having fun while learning is critical to the format of the submission. The format of Play! is intentionally designed to get participants engaged and moving while learning about how to use experiential activities in the classroom. As participants arrive, they will work through the stations, getting to “Play!” and learn about how they might use these activities in their own classrooms.

If accepted for inclusion in the Play! session, each presenter will give a 3-5 minute quick summation and interaction with the attendees. Time will be called and participants will then visit another presenter based on their interests/needs to play again. Presenters are responsible for bringing whatever props or handouts they need to explain and demonstrate their activity.

Upload a completed copy of your (3 page maximum) Play! submission, double-spaced, 12-point font. While you do not need to remove any identifying information about your university or program, submitters should not include their name in the supporting file document.

Your Play! submission must include the following in the uploaded supporting file document:

A one- to two-page narrative that identifies the elements below that are relevant:

• The name of the activity or game;
• Goals of using experiential learning in this context;
• How to utilize the game or activity in a course. Provide details that give the reader a good sense of what the game or activity is, how it is used and other ways it could be used as applicable;
• The participants –class, level of students, number of students; and
• The ways that reflection is used to connect the activity to the course concepts to advance the experiential learning cycle.

You can provide up to three (3) pages of related material that help describe and highlight the activity and how it might be used in other communication courses.

Incomplete submissions will not be considered for the convention.

If accepted to the program, presenters agree to provide either electronic files or hard copies of a one-page handout to participants at the Play! session.

Paper Sessions:

Paper sessions, which feature three to five presenters and a chair, are reviewed with identifying information included and should provide the following information in an uploaded document:

• The title of the session
• A 50–75 word description
• If applicable, a suggestion of another NCA division that may be interested in co-sponsoring this session
• A chair who will moderate the session
• The title, brief abstract (50 words) and author(s) information for each paper presentation
• A rationale of the session’s importance, purpose, and theme

* Please note that Paper Sessions should include a diversity of scholars and all session members should NOT be from the same college or university. Further, no participant in a session will have multiple roles (such as chair and presenter). If you fail to adhere to this the panel will not be accepted.

Like individual paper submissions, if your paper in a paper session includes data from participants, it is important that authors give more attention to the ways in which their analysis/discussion is limited by their sample demographics. Papers that include data from participants should include concrete reflection on the demographic diversity of the sample (or lack thereof) and must speak about the ways in which sample demographics shape the boundaries of the conclusions being reached, as per criterion of sample representativeness. This reflection must go beyond the limitations sections in the discussion. Papers with data from participants that do not meet this requirement will not be paneled.

Whether advancing your own scholarship, looking for connections between your interests and those of other scholars, seeking new ideas for your own research and teaching, or reconnecting with old friends and colleagues, we look forward to your participation!

REVIEWING

We invite volunteers to review submissions. Please compete the form here by March 31, 2025 at 11:59 pm: https://www.xcdsystem.com/nca/forms/form.cfm?ID=m5bXjCE

QUESTIONS?

For any questions regarding the Experiential Learning in Communication Division programming, please contact:

Dr. Jennifer Becker
Experiential Learning in Communication Division Planner
jennifer.becker@utsa.edu, 205-792-7570