Systematically organizing the recruitment of participants and faculty and obtaining the location and materials for people to unite in a joint learning activity.
Claim
Seminars and study groups encourage people to take the opportunity to do intellectual work that they would not do otherwise, and allow them to share in the learning process. Such organization facilitates the learning experience. Seminar formats carry the learning experience outside of school-situated instruction and usually feature practitioners rather than theorists.
Counter claim
Seminars and study groups are an abused form of activity, posing as education but often achieving only conviviality or a pretext to get away from one's office. They encourage learning as an end in itself, which alone has little social utility.