CAL 2011 – Learning Futures

The CAL Conference 2011

Learning Futures: Education, Technology & Sustainability

April 13-15 2011, Manchester, UK

CAL (Computer Assisted Learning) is one of the leading international conferences in the field of education and technology. It brings together researchers across all education sectors, from primary years, to informal learning, to higher education, and across a range of disciplines from psychology to computer science, media and cultural studies.

In 2011, the conference will lead a challenging international debate about the future of research and practice in educational technology. CAL 11 aims to:

  • Explore the role of educational technology research in addressing questions of global and social justice, widening participation and digital democracy
  • Assess what role educational technology might play in the context of low carbon, energy constrained futures
  • Explore how emerging technologies from diverse fields (e.g. gaming, AI, biotech, ubiquitous computing) might offer new environments for learning
  • Examine the informal learning practices emerging in children, youth and adults’ digital cultures and their implications for education
  • Reflect on what lessons have been learned over the last thirty years of education technology research, and what these might mean for the future of research in the field.
Our four themes for the conference are:

Theme 1: Sustainability, globalisation and social justice
Theme 2: The future of learning technologies
Theme 3: Informal learning and digital cultures
Theme 4: Looking back to look forward

More…

Conference format

Within the main conference individual paper sessions, workshops and symposia are organised around the four themes. An informal fringe activity is run by the local organising committee to give a chance for participants to showcase and experiment with emerging technologies. If researchers wish to informally ‘demo’ innovative learning resources during the conference, please contact the conference chairs to discuss this possibility.

The CAL Conference 2011 is organised by Elsevier Ltd, publishers of the international journal Computers & Education.

CfP: Virtual Worlds: play or education?

ITALICS Call for Papers: “Virtual Worlds: play or education?”

Mon 1st Dec, 2008 FROM HEA ICS

The third issue of ITALICS for 2009 will be a special issue on Second Life and other Virtual Worlds in use in higher education.  The editors are seeking case studies and research papers discussing integrating virtual worlds with social media, VLEs and traditional teaching methods. More below…

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Virtual Communities and eDemocracy – Call for Papers

The following strand at the 3rd International Conference on e-Democracy (Next Generation Society: Technological and Legal Issues), taking place 23 – 25 September 2009, Athens, Greece might be of interest to some readers of this blog:

Virtual Communities

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CfP: VS-Games 2009

Glad they have the short name VS-Games as the full name is something of a mouthful…

VS-GAMES 2009
1st International Conference in Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications
23th, 24th March 2009, Coventry University, UK

Theme: “Environment, Cultural Heritage, Health, Smart buildings, V-commerce and Education”

EDIT: Updated conference link

Program chairs are Sara de Freitas, Kurt Squire and Edward Castronova. So a good line up there.

Second Call for Papers: ReLIVE08

Second Call ReLIVE08

The Open University is pleased to announce a second call for abstract submissions for the international conference for Researching Learning in Virtual Environments to be held at its campus in Milton Keynes on the 20th and 21st of November 2008.
If you are currently researching learning in a virtual world, for example There, CyberTown, Second Life etc, then we invite you to submit an abstract to ReLIVE08. We are seeking presenters and participants who have experience of designing and delivering learning in virtual worlds, and the ability to reflect on and share that experience within an analytical framework. Please note that the closing date for the second call is the 20th of June.

With researchers and practitioners attending from around the globe, this excellent opportunity for networking promises an interesting, stimulating and exciting 2 days. The conference will begin with a reception on the evening of the 19th November, and the first full day will see the opening keynote from Edward Castranova and an invited panel debate chaired by Sara De Freitas, Director of Research at The Serious Games Institute, as well as a varied programme of paper presentations and workshops. The conference gala reception and dinner will be supported by a variety of entertainers, including a digital caricaturist, live music and an after dinner speaker (details to be announced shortly), and the second day of presentations and workshops will be wrapped up by Roo Reynolds. All delegates will receive a conference goodie bag and an electronic copy of the conference proceedings. Selected papers will be invited to submit chapters for an edited book with a major publisher in the field (tbc).

Please find more details at our website on http://www.open.ac.uk/relive08

We hope to see you in November.

CFP: Researching Learning in Virtual Environments – ReLIVE 08

It’s not often that I get to say “I hope to see you in Milton Keynes in November”, but this is one of those rare times…

Researching Learning in Virtual Environments – ReLIVE08

20th and 21st November 2008.

Keynote speakers: Edward Castranova and Roo Reynolds.

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Calls for papers

Kind of losing track of all the different calls for papers for conferences, etc., so here are a bunch in one place. Most of these I am not really considering – I have only so much time and money for conferences, but these do look interesting. Quite a few have very imminent deadlines. Covering Game development, game research, games in education, learning technology, computers in education, and games for change… more below:

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elearningpapers

Noticed a new European Commission supported online journal on e-learning, elearningpapers. First issue is online now, and includes one paper that I think is relevant to the use of Second Life in education – although it isn’t about SL at all – “User-defined content in a constructivist learning environment” by Johnson and Dyer.

I have not yet had a chance to read the whole paper, but the following para from the abstract explains it quite well:

This research argues that … user-generated content has an important part to play in defining new pedagogical approaches to learning. Where the social constructs of community build confidence and self-esteem, individuals are able to take charge of their own learning and develop a sense of ownership through “community pull”.

Conferences, conferences, conferences

Whole bunch of call for papers. I hope to submit to at least some of these. Fingers crossed.

The Higher Education Academy – Information and Computer Sciences subject group 8th Annual Conference, Tuesday 28th to Thursday 30th August 2007, at  the University of Southampton. Some of the key topics for the 2007 Conference are Emerging Technologies,  Outreach and Widening Participation and Ethics and Social Responsibility. Deadline 16th April 2007.

The Association for Learning Technology has its 14th conference, ALT-C 2007, in Nottingham, 4-6 September. Deadline for papers 14th Feb.

Blended Learning 2007 is also backed by the HEA, and takes place at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield on Thurs 14th June. Deadline for submissions is the 9th of Feb.