Tuesday 28 November 2017

Data analytics: one call for papers, free research papers, and a free paper on libraries

BayLAN conference, UC Berkeley

Submission deadline December 15th, 2017 (submit here)
Conference date: February 24, 2018
Conference fee: students for free, professionals: 15 $
Can't make it to LAK'18 in Sydney? Want to meet Bay Area LA practitioners and researchers on your way south? BayLAN is a local network of researchers and professionals in the field of learning analytics. The BayLAN conference is a regional event designed to  facilitate the exchange of information, case studies, ideas, and early stage research in the field of learning analytics broadly construed.

The Bay Area Learning Analytics Network (BayLAN), in co-operation with SoLAR, is hosting the third annual BayLAN conference on February 24, 2018 at the University of California, Berkeley. The BayLAN conference brings together thought leaders from both industry and academia. Presentations and discussions will focus on current research at the intersection of education, data science, and technology.

Registration is free for students and $15 for professionals. To register click here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-bay-area-learning-analytics-conference-2018-baylan-tickets-38191297198

BayLAN is currently accepting abstract submissions for the conference. Abstracts should report on research in the broad area of learning analytics.  Presentations may include technical work that applies data science or other quantitative methods to improve education, as well as interventions, methodologies, tools or technology that are intended to improve learning outcomes.
Suggested topics: 
  • Theoretical topics: cognitive science models about education, data science methods applied to learning, novel theories about learning
  • Lessons learned: After going through the learning analytics implementation process, share insights that have surfaced that affect the completion of the project
  • Innovative new tools/techniques: Share newly developed tools or approaches to learning analytics that have been implemented at an institution.
  • Application of standards: A project making use of data/analytics standards and illustrating the benefits of such an approach.
  • Collaboration and sharing: How are groups of institutions/practitioners partnering to solve shared problems in the learning analytics space?
The deadline for submission is December 15, 2017. Submit here 

Free papers on Big data available until 4 December 2018 (the free access is available until then)

Special Issue: Big Data in Robotics from Liebert publishing
This issue was guest edited by Jeannette Bohg, Matei Ciocarlie, Javier Civera, and Lydia E. Kavraki
FREE ACCESS through December 4, 2017. Read Now:
Big Data on Robotics
Jeannette Bohg, Matei Ciocarlie, Javier Civera, and Lydia E. Kavraki  Read Now
Recent Data Sets on Object Manipulation: A Survey
Yongqiang Huang, Matteo Bianchi, Minas Liarokapis, and Yu Sun  Read Now
Leveraging Large-Scale Semantic Networks for Adaptive Robot Task Learning and Execution
Adrian Boteanu, Aaron St. Clair, Anahita Mohseni-Kabir, Carl Saldanha, and Sonia Chernova  Read Now
The KIT Motion-Language Dataset
Matthias Plappert, Christian Mandery, and Tamim Asfour  Read Now
DOOMED: Direct Online Optimization of Modeling Errors in Dynamics
Nathan Ratliff, Franziska Meier, Daniel Kappler, and Stefan Schaal  Read Now

Free paper on libraries from paper to cloudbased

With the open access discussion going strong as ever (great reflective article here on the goal of open access from Stephen Downes, in reply to Willey's view on open access).
IGI global has just released a free paper (downloading free papers seems like a good strategy) on library history from paper to cloudbased, with examples.

The library paper can be downloaded here (you must register for IGI global)

The abstract of this paper: A Library is an organized collection of resources made accessible to a defined community for reference or borrowing. It provides physical or digital access to material, and may be a physical building, or a virtual space, or both. During the last decays, the Libraries had witnessed a continuous revolution and still do. This paper reviews the main milestone of such revolution starting from the classical up to the current Cloud-based era passing by the intermediate digital transformation period. It reviews the library types, services, problems and drive of changes from the classical form. The paper then tackles the transformation of the library to the digital form. It discusses the characteristics of the digital library, the web-based library, and the library 2.0 through their advantages and limitations. The paper finally focuses on the current Cloud-based ear, where most of the library cloud platforms, services management, innovative products and opened environments are addressed through their features, add values, pros and cons. The paper also provides a comparative study on such solutions coming up with opened research issues. Hereby, the paper provides a comprehensive overview on the development of the library till now. 

Thursday 16 November 2017

Free mLearning eBook: Mobilizing and supporting educator practice #mLearning

At the mLearn2017 in Cyprus, a free and useful eBook was launched by the International Association for Mobile Learning (IAmLearn). It is a free book entitled 'Mobilizing and supporting educator practice', edited by top mLearning experts (Robert Power, Mohamed Ally, Dean Cristol and Agnieszka Palalas) and as such available to all. They even have a download button (tucked away in the table of contents tab) where you can download the free book as a PDF, right here. The other download formats are ePub and mobi (great!).

Description (from their own website)
"Teachers are more likely to experiment with and integrate mobile learning strategies if they feel confident in their ability to do so. Professional development resources and activities that focus on making instructional design decisions can help to increase teachers’ confidence with mobile learning. Teachers have indicated that a community of practice would also help them to increase their confidence with mLearning. To that end, mobile learning experts and practitioners from the International Association for Mobile Learning (IAmLearn) have prepared this open access eBook to help create such a community of practice."
The chapters in this book are useful for researchers implementing mobile learning (eg. 6 mobile learning theories!), but above all to educators, as each chapter gives a clear description of what you - as an educator - can do and specifically, the authors added digital extra's (although I did not get the tub-tub app to work). Yes, those are ready to use in a classroom or training setting (eg. https://iamlearning.pressbooks.com/chapter/digital-extras-activity-1/ using the jigsaw method).

The table of contents:

Ch 1: MALL Gains, Barriers, and Opportunities

Mobile Application Use to Support Vocabulary Knowledge in a Japanese High School: Learning Gains, Barriers, and Opportunities

Digital Extras - Supplementary Materials


Ch 2: Enhancing Residential Student Leadership Training with AR mLearning

Enhancing Residential Student Leadership Training with Appropriate Augmented Reality mLearning Trail Design

Digital Extras - Teacher and Student Testimonials

Ch 3: Resourceful Instructors & Students

Resourceful instructors and students: Overcoming barriers to integrating mobile tools

Digital Extras - The Course Assistance App


Ch 4: Teacher Training and PD in Mobile Pedagogy for English Language Teaching

Teacher Training and Professional Development in Mobile Pedagogy for English Language Teaching

Digital Extras - Tasks and Guidelines for Teacher Development Questions
Digital Extras - Activity 1
Digital Extras - Activity 2
Digital Extras - Reflection Activities


Ch 5: Moving to Seamless Learning

Moving to Seamless Learning: A Framework for Learning Using Multiple Devices

Digital Extras - Appendix 5.1


Ch 6: An mLearning Toolset

An mLearning Toolset for Leveraging Learning Theory
Six Learning Theories
The Analytical Tools

Digital Extras - Design Rubrics
Digital Extras - The Digital Analyzer


Additional Resources:
The Collaborative Situated Active Mobile (CSAM) Learning Design Framework
CSAM References
The Mobile Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale (mTSES)
mTSES References

Monday 13 November 2017

Free OLC virtual expert meet-ups and speaking opportunity #elearning #online

More info on a free online learning meet-up with eLearning thought leaders, and a speaking opportunity at the eLearning Guilds Realities 360 learning event focusing on augmented and virtual reality and simulations further down this post.
 
The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Accelerate in collaboration with Inside Higher Ed is planning two days of virtual meet-ups with eLearning experts, called virtual thought leader interviews.. These interactive interviews, promise to provide the opportunityregistration is free and can be found here, and you only have to provide an email (for confirmation and sending you the information for login).
to all attendees to enter into a dialogue with the experts as well, using Shindig as a virtual meeting tool. The

When: Wednesday, November 15th, from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm ET and Thursday, November 16th, from 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET (for a time conversion, have a look here).

From the event description:
Moderated by Inside Higher Ed Editor & Co-Founder Doug Lederman.
Shindig’s unique technology will also enable online participants to discuss, network, and socialize privately with one another as if they were attendees at the OLC Accelerate Conference.The growing list of confirmed interview participants includes: Curtis Bonk, Professor at Indiana University and Owner of CourseShare, Phil Hill, Co-Publisher of the e-Literate blog, Co-Producer of e-Literate TV, and Partner at MindWires Consulting, Rolin Moe, Assistant Professor and Director of the Institute for Academic Innovation at Seattle Pacific University, Jill Buban, ‎Senior Director of Research & Innovation at ‎Online Learning Consortium, and many more!
Shindig also seems to have an iOS and Android app to join the event while you're on the go. With possibly the same ability to chat privately, submit text questions, and be spotlighted to the stage - just like the desktop version.


Realities360 Speaking Proposals Due this Week

There are only 4 days left to submit a speaking proposal for 2018 Realities360 Conference. Realities360 is about exploring emerging technologies to create new and exciting immersive learning experiences.
They are interested in proposals exploring the design, development, and/or implementation of learning programs that take advantage of virtual and augmented reality and simulation technologies.

Deadline for submitting a speaking proposal: 17 November 2017
Event dates: 26 - 28 June 2018 in San Jose, California, USA.
More info on the conference here.
If your speaking proposal is accepted, you get a full conference registration for free (worthwhile!). 

Tuesday 7 November 2017

Call for papers, free online events and paper opportunity #CfP #elearning

In this post you can find three Call for Papers, two publication opportunities, and to start off multiple initiatives from EDEN (European Distance and eLearning Network) which has their online learning week (started yesterday, with free online seminars each day up until the 10th of November.

EDEN European Distance Learning week

An online, free event with daily seminars. The one for today is starting soon. More info here or look at the upcoming events below.
You simply need to provide your name and email to get registered, and also receive the link to the recording. 

Perspectives on Open Education

Tuesday, November 7, 2017, 13:00-14:30 CET
Format: Presentations and panel discussion
Moderator: Fabio Nascimbeni, EDEN Executive Committee member
Please click here for a more detailed description of the event
Click here to register

Designing Learning Spaces in Open and Distance Learning

Wednesday, November 8, 2017, 13:00-14:30 CET
Format: Presentations and discussion
Moderator: Lisa Marie Blaschke, EDEN Vice-President
Please click here for a more detailed description of the event
Click here to register

Re-considering Access, Quality and Flexibility of Education

Thursday, November 9, 2017, 13:00-14:30 CET
Format: Presentation and discussions
Moderator: Sandra Kucina Softic, EDEN Vice President
Please click here for a more detailed description of the event
Click here to register

International Experiences with OER

Friday, November 10, 2017, 13:00-14:30 CET
Format: Presentation
Moderator: Antonella Poce, EDEN NAP Steering Committee Chair
Please click here for a more detailed description of the event
Click here to register

EDEN Open Classroom Conference: Introducing Agenda for Open Professional Collaboration – Plenary broadcast 

Friday, November 10, 2017, 9:45 – 11:45 CET
Format: Plenary Session live stream – Live streaming of the plenary session of the EDEN Open Classroom Conference held in Kaunas, Lithuania. Link to the broadcast will be announced soon. Participants will be able to ask questions using the conference website.
Moderators: Kristijonas Jakubsonas, Elena Trepulė
Keynote speakers:
  • Digitally competent teachers in the area of Open Education, Yves Punie, European Commission – DG JRC – Directorate Innovation and Growth
  • The Joyous Voyage: situating open learning in a fractured world, Alan Bruce, Universal Learning Systems, Ireland, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan
  • National ICT Implementation Initiatives for Educational Openness, Vaino Brazdeikis, Ministry of Education and Science of The Republic of Lithuania
  • Implementing recognition of open non-formal learning. Organizational perspective, Airina Volungevičienė, European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN), Vytautas Magnus University

Technological Innovation for Specialized Linguistic Domains (TISLID 18)

A conference on EdTech, MOOCs related to languages for digital lives and cultures.
Conference dates: 24-26 May 2018
Venue: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Abdisstraat 1, 9000 Gent, Belgium.

Call for abstracts deadline: 10 December 2018 (an 300 - 500 word abstract, more CfP info here).
More information: http://www.tislid18.ugent.be/

This conference offers a great opportunity to interchange knowledge and experiences, both in a formal and informal, creative way, regarding language-based digital realities. This event aims to promote academic debate on digital language technologies, with a special focus on their potential for promoting communication and (lifelong) learning.

The conference will include keynotes, paper presentations, posters, a roundtable debate (on Thursday and Friday) and workshops (on Saturday).

14th International Conference Mobile Learning 2018

Conference dates: 14 – 16 April 2018, Lisbon, Portugal
Deadline for papers: 8 December 2017

* Conference Scope
Mobile learning is concerned with a society on the move. In particular, with the study of “…how the mobility of learners augmented by personal and public technology can contribute to the process of gaining new knowledge, skills and experience” (Sharples et al. 2007).
The ML Conference seeks to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of mobile learning research which illustrate developments in the field.
For more details and information about topics please check http://www.mlearning-conf.org/call-for-papers

* Paper Submission
This is a blind peer-reviewed conference. Authors are invited to submit their papers in English through the conference submission system by December 8, 2017. Submissions must be original and should not have been published previously.

* Important Dates:
- Submission Deadline: 8 December 2017
- Notification to Authors: 8 January 2018
- Final Camera-Ready Submission and Early Registration: Until 29 January 2018
- Late Registration: After 29 January 2018

* Paper Publication
The papers will be published in book and electronic format with ISBN, will be made available through the Digital Library available at http://www.iadisportal.org/digital-library/showsearch.
The conference proceedings will be submitted for indexation by IET’s INSPEC, Elsevier, EI Compendex, Scopus, Thomson Reuters Web of Science, ERIC and other important indexing services.

* Conference Contact:
E-mail: secretariat@mlearning-conf.org
Web site: http://www.mlearning-conf.org/

EDEN Annual conference on 17 - 20 June 2018

Subject: investigating the micro, meso and macro in digital learning landscapes
Deadline for submissions: 5 February 2018
Information on the call for papers/workshops: http://www.eden-online.org/2018_genoa/submission/
Scope of the conference:
The demand for people with new, enhanced skills is growing. The volume of information produced and shared in all fields is overwhelming. Building the data economy became part of the EU Digital Single Market. Powerful and sophisticated ICT is part of everyday life, and the world of learning is not an exception. Pressure is on all players of the online education community to keep up with new learning solutions, and better supply the skills currently demanded by growing economies.
Open Education continues its success, providing radical advances in knowledge acquisition, sharing, distribution, and improving business models. Digital credentials and open badges are the new currencies which are beginning to transform the economic models in education.
Social and economic tensions continue to raise the issues of scalability, the micro-credentialling of education, training and skill development processes. Practitioners and stakeholders are eagerly seeking right approaches to providing learning opportunities, and many scholars are researching holistic answers.
Micro, meso and macro aspects provide an interesting range of lenses for considering the problem. These aspects may be applied in a general sense, distinguishing between the learning of individuals (e.g through mobile learning), learning at the institutional or group levels through a meso lens, and the learning of organizations or societies directed through policies through the macro lens.

EDENchat initiative, using the twitter chat approach on subjects related to distance, open and eLearning


#EDENChat is an online discussion event on Twitter initiated by Steering Committee of the EDEN Network of Academics and Professionals (NAP). It is mediated by members of the NAP community and runs for approximately 1 hour. Anyone can join in and contribute to the discussion which is presented in a Question and Answer format, and focuses on current issues in distance, open and e-learning.
EDENchat schedule:
European Distance Learning Week #EDENChat November 8, 2017
What is Open Web? November 22, 2017
What are Open Licenses? December 6, 2017
What are Open Degrees & Open Badges? December 20, 2017
More information (and prior chat info):  http://www.eden-online.org/events/ and here http://www.eden-online.org/resources/edenchat/

Opportunities for publication: one on mobile learning, and one on launching at technology driven university.

IGI global: Handbook of Research on Challenges and Opportunities in Launching a Technology-Driven International University 

Publication edited byDr. Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, Executive Director of the Information Resources Management Association (IRMA).

Deadline for chapter proposals: 30 November 2017.
Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by no later than December 13, 2017 about the status of their proposals and will receive chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by January 30, 2018. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind basis. Contributors may also be requested to be engaged as reviewers for this project.
To view the full call for papers, with recommended topic areas, please visit the link here: https://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/2913


The aim of this publication is to offer both empirical and theoretical research focused on the effective construction of technology-driven higher learning international universities. Themes such as: developing an accelerated and innovative curriculum, the recruitment and retention of internationally renowned faculty and researchers to lead courses, as well as the development of an on-campus and distance learning system will be presented. Also, taking into consideration the financial and economic impacts of launching a university – specifically, how to identify the appropriate locale for universities and/or branch campuses, which will ideally complement the local interest of business sectors within the selected location.

The target audience for this publication will be entrepreneurs, practitioners, academicians, instructional designers, administrators, government officials, and independent researchers and consultants focused on online education research and scholarship, educational leadership and administration, educational marketing, educational policy, course management, instructional design, educational theory and practice, human resources in educational settings, and curriculum design and management.

Mobile book looking for contributors, but it costs 350 Swiss Franks (approx. 300 EUR or 350 USD)

This looks like a good, yet paid, opportunity for those wanting to get a chapter in a research book on mobile learning. The publication is international and Open Access, but indeed the publishers demand a downpayment to get accepted (so, only when you will be published) chapters published.
Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/education) is currently running a Special Issue "Mobile Learning" (http://www.mdpi.com/journal/education/special_issues/Mobile_Learning), which is guest edited by Prof. Maria Uther, from the University of Winchester, UK.
The submission deadline is 31 May 2018. You may send your manuscript now or up until the deadline. Submitted papers should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

This Special Issue, Mobile Learning, addresses the increasing popularity of mobile devices and their potential for developing learning. Articles are welcomed for inclusion in this Special Issue that:
(1) provide empirical evidence on the efficacy of mobile devices for learning applications; (2) showcase novel uses or technical developments for mobile devices in learning; (3) review pedagogical and user interface design considerations and develop theories around the design of mobile learning applications; (4) interface mobile technologies with other technologies to enhance learning (e.g., speech recognition, augmented reality, psychophysiological recording); and (5) offer examples of situated learning (e.g. using augmented/virtual reality technology) with mobile devices. The above topics are indicative and we would also welcome any papers relating to mobile learning that do not immediately fit into the above categories.

For further reading, please follow the link to the Special Issue Website at: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/education/special_issues/Mobile_Learning. We also encourage authors to send a short abstract or tentative title to the Editorial Office in advance (education@mdpi.com).

If the Special Issue collects more than 10 papers, it will be made available in printed book format. An example could be seen at http://books.mdpi.com/.

/Education Sciences/ (ISSN 2227-7102) is an international and open access journal, which is double-blind peer-reviewed. It is published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/education. Open access (unlimited and free access by readers) increases publicity and promotes more frequent citations, as indicated by several studies. Open access is supported by the authors and their institutes. More information is available at http://www.mdpi.com/about/openaccess/. If you decide to submit to this Special Issue, Article Processing Charges (APC) of CHF 350 is applied. For more information on APCs please visit http://www.mdpi.com/about/apc/
.
Education Sciences has been accepted for inclusion in ESCI http://mjl.clarivate.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jlresults.cgi?PC=MASTER&ISSN=2227-7102
For further details on the submission process, please see the instructions for authors at http://www.mdpi.com/journal/education/instructions.