We explain what a seminar is, the origin of the term and its characteristics. Also, what are your goals and types.
What is a seminar?
Commonly, a seminar is understood to be a meeting for academic purposes in which a finite number of specialists and interested in the subject meet, to exchange, comment, expose and debate on the matter during one or more days of continuous activity. It is an event similar to congresses or meetings, but of a more intensive and prolonged nature in the weather.
The word seminary comes from Latin seminarius ("Place of sowing of knowledge"), word linked to the Latin term for "seed", which is seminis, and the suffix –arium, which expresses a place for things to live or grow. So the original idea of a seminar was the place where ideas, like seeds, could grow and bear new fruit.
With this sense, precisely, it was used from the medieval European the word seminary to refer to the houses of clerical and religious formation of priests, administered by those who were at that time the bearers of the truth and knowledge: the Christian churches, especially the Catholic. Today, instead, we distinguish between a religious seminary (place) and an academic seminary (activity).
Finally, seminars are very common activities in professional societies and collegiate bodies, as well as among practitioners of some specialized knowledge. They usually take place in academic facilities, in conference rooms or any place that allows for meeting and exchange of ideas.
Characteristics of a seminar
In general, the seminars are characterized by the following:
- They are intensive and prolonged in time, being able to meet periodically for a certain time, for example, weekly throughout a year, or several consecutive days, or an entire weekend.
- Those attending a seminar always have a topic or a set of topics of common interest, and they usually have a relatively similar academic or informative level, in order to participate in a discussion among peers or at least of a very high technical level.
- The objective of the seminar is to delve into the chosen topic using very diverse sources. To do this, various activities are carried out, which will have been planned and announced by the organizers from the beginning.
- The results of a seminar belong to the participating group and are their responsibility. They are usually collected in written minutes that testify to the progress made.
- The work of debate and discussion can take place in different ways, some of them in group and general exposition format, others through work in small focused groups.
Objectives of a seminar
The seminars, in general, fulfill three fundamental objectives:
- Cognitive objective: the seminars should function as laboratories for the generation of knowledge and the implementation of academic knowledge, incorporating students and stakeholders as an active part of the process, and not as mere listeners or receivers of the information.
- Educational objective: the seminars make up different and complementary educational spaces to the classroom, in which debate, own and original ideas are encouraged and recognized, collectivism and critical spirit are put to the test, allowing a freer exchange between students. seminarians.
- Documentary objective: from the seminars there remains a set of documentation in minutes, and different essays, lectures, articles and other materials that increase the documentary collection of the subject studied, that is, they produce bibliography specialized.
Types of seminar
Seminars can be conducted the way their organizers prefer, and there is no universal classification for the options available. However, the following seminar formats are known:
- Socratic Seminary. Inspired by what is told of the great Greek philosopher Socrates (470-399 BC), these seminaries use the dialogue or interrogation as the main mechanism for the exchange of knowledge and debate, through a selection of questions that must be answered critically. They are very common among law academies, in which the interpretation of the law is encouraged. law.
- Presentation seminar. East method It is close to the notion of symposium, in the sense that the participants must prepare presentations with their ideas that, once read to the public, will be subjected to questions, comments and criticisms in order to generate new ideas around what has been said. This requires someone to act as a moderator.
- Small group seminar. As its name indicates, it is focused on the exchange of few participants, so that, after one or several presentations or lectures, the attendees are grouped into small discussion groups, in which they critically address the topic just discussed. The groups then join in the general discussion, sharing their newly gained ideas with the rest.
- Concentric circles seminar. In this case, a method is applied that distributes the seminarians into two groups, each sitting in a circle, with a minority group acting as an inner circle and a larger group, around them, as an outer circle. Members of the inner circle should make presentations, take notes, and critically debate, while those in the outer circle simply take notes and witness the exchange. Later, the two groups will change their locations and their respective roles, giving themselves the opportunity to be the public and protagonists of the seminar together.