Conference Theme and Topics

Open and Social Technologies play an increasingly important role in many educational settings. Social technologies are naturally entering primary, secondary and higher education where they blur the boundaries between formal and informal learning. Social technologies also enter the workplaces where they connect learners and bridge the boundaries between individual learning and organizational knowledge processes. Not only do these technologies connect learners independent of place and time, they have also been found to exert emergent properties. For example, wikis or social tagging environments are increasingly used for collaborative knowledge construction where new knowledge emerges from a large scale interaction of individuals. These properties and their impact on individual, group and organizational learning have only started to be researched.

Open Source Software (OSS) and Technologies have received extensive research attention due to some favorable properties contrasting with a traditional understanding of software development and the use of those systems. Many OSS issues are motivations for OSS developers and licensing bodies. However, important research areas in OSS are product and implementation success and the use of OSS in different educational and enterprise settings. OSS can also serve as a platform for providing services to user communities. Especially in developing countries, OSS provides an attractive opportunity.

We invite Contributions to the following topics

• Social Technologies in Education (Weblogs, Tagging, Wikis, Microblogging, Social Networking)
• Open Technologies in Education (Open Source Software, Standards, Licensing, Linked open Data)
• Technologies for networked learning (Personal Learning environments, Virtual Learning environments, Mobile Learning)
• Collaborative and networked learning (Collaborative Knowledge Building, Community-based Learning)
• Socio-Technical Systems and Digital Ecosystems in Education,
• Models and Networks (Learning Analytics and User Modelling, Emergent Properties, Social Network Analysis, Educational uses of data mining)
• Design, Development and Evaluation Methodologies for Open and Social Systems
• Application of Technologies in Educational Settings (Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Schools, Higher Education)
• Application of Technologies in Professional Education and the Workplace (Workplace Learning, Learning in Business Networks and Alliances, Learning and Knowledge Management, Learning and Innovation)

Who should attend?

Researchers, Practitioners and Policy Makers in the areas of Educational Technologies and Educational Information Systems

Submission of Papers

We invite submissions to one of the following categories. All submissions will be reviewed by members of an international program committee for significance and fit with the conference topic.

• Long Research Papers: This should be a substantial paper (maximum length 8 A4 pages, including references, with an abstract of about 200 words on the front page) which may refer to any of the sub topics of the conference. On the conference, a slot for a 30 minutes presentation will be allotted to participants with successful submissions of long papers.
• Short papers. This could be based on practical experiences, innovative ideas or relate to projects in progress and report interim results. Length of the paper would be limited to four A4 pages, with an abstract of about 200 words on the front page. Presentation slots will be 20 minutes for short papers.
• Demos and Posters: These could be demonstrations of software systems that fit the scope of the conference theme. Please submit a one-page abstract describing the demo or the poster. Posters and demos will be on display during a special demo and posters session.
• Symposia and Discussion Groups: We invite persons with special expertise to submit proposals for symposia or discussion groups on topics pertinent to the conference theme. Proposers are free to propose a format of the meeting, and will be responsible for eliciting participation and for the organization. In the conference program, symposia will be openly announced, and will be allotted a slot of 1.5 hours. Discussion groups are closed group meetings. These can be scheduled according to the availability of rooms and facilities. Submissions to this category should be 2 A4 pages and should indicate the proposed format, the intended participants, the outcome of the meeting and any time and equipment requirements.
• Doctoral Consortium: Doctoral students at any stage of their PhD studies are invited to submit a 4 page description of their topic, including their research question, planned work and progress towards this. Accepted students will be invited for a day prior to the conference to present their work and discuss with fellow students and with senior scholars. We will attempt to offer travel funding for a limited amount of students.