iLRN 2020 Special Tracks

ST1. Playful immersive learning experiences

Overview

Playfulness has always been one of the core traits of good learning experiences, in particular facilitating types of learning such as explorative learning, trial and error, inquiry-based learning, learning by doing and more. Combining immersive technology with playful approaches can help to build spaces for learning that are realistic and believable yet invite learners to experiment without considering success or failure. Further flow experiences are highly related to both good learning experiences and challenging play, and playful learning in immersive environments can ideally deepen and prolong flow experiences. As advances in VR and AR technology converge with the wide availability of sensors, digital fabrication devices and wearables at the consumer level, playful learning experiences increasingly become available to schools and wider section of the population. At the same time creation, extension and adaptation of these experiences has become more widely and openly available.

Consequently the aim of this track is to shed light on how playful immersive learning experiences can be designed and make use of these novel technological developments, how transfer of knowledge works with these environments, how they can be developed to allow for appropriation and adaptation, and how and if they succeed in triggering learning experiences.

List of Topics

The  topics  of interest  include, but are  not limited to:

• Explorative design studies of playful immersive learning experiences
• User Studies of how players interact with playful immersive learning experiences
• Incorporating digital fabrication and wearables in VR and AR applications
• Validation studies of learning gains and transfer using playful immersive learning experiences
• Using playful immersive learning experiences in educational settings
• Using playful immersive learning experiences in health care
• Using playful immersive learning experiences for self-measurement, introspection and personal growth
• User-generated content, appropriation and adaptation of playful immersive learning experiences
• Ethical considerations and critical studies for creating and applying playful immersive learning experiences

Author Info

Submitted papers must follow the same guidelines as the main conference submissions. Please visit https://immersivelrn.org/ilrn2020/call-for-papers-proposals/ for guidelines and templates.

Available formats for this special track:

• Full paper (6-8 pages) for oral presentation
• Short paper (4-6 pages) for oral presentation

For submitting a paper to this special track, please use the submission system https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ilrn2020 , log in with an account or register, and select the track “ST1: Playful immersive learning experiences” to add your submission.

Special Track Chairs

• Fares Kayali, University of Vienna

Program Committee 

ST2. Place, Presence, Perspective: How the Immersive Technologies Mediate and Create Cultural Capital

Overview

Communities are getting smarter. All around the world, governments are investing in the pilots of smart operating systems that leverage immersive technologies and advanced analytics to improve the operational capacity of roadways, parking, and transit, the efficiencies of energy in buildings, public safety, and the overall quality of life for citizens. Yet sometimes we forget that last part. While in theory smart communities’ initiatives leverage XR to improve quality of life, often an intelligent understanding of how immersive technology can directly improve and catalyze cultural growth in a community is often missing. Over the next decade, it is estimated that some US$250 billion will be invested in the creation of new cultural districts around the world. Reinventing communities that value creativity and innovation is like discovering some basic ingredients of development. For a synchronous 21st century community, no other path than that of knowledge and culture can guarantee a smooth transition to socio-political viability and economic sustainability.

According to the Nomura research institute, the elements are in place for the “Creative Age” to flourish; a period during which nations prosper because they respect and tolerate individual freedom of expression and recognize that innovation—and not mass, low-value good production—is the driving force for the new economy. iLRN’s House of Language, Culture and Heritage invites the submission of papers, panels and posters that look into the role of XR for investing in the development of smart human, social and cultural capital. We invite scholars and practitioners whose immersive (ad)ventures contribute to the understanding of a place’s cultural nuances, connect and inspire people, alleviate differences, adopt inclusive stances, empower and instigate political awareness and civic participation and, ultimately, offer the opportunity to dream a possible dream. Come to San Luis Obispo to share your standards of development that are culturally adaptive and to disseminate work that emerges from the understanding of the history, the societal principles, and the artistic aesthetics of a community or a place.

Also visit the House of Language, Culture, and Heritage to join the community!

List of Topics

The  topics  of interest  include, but are  not limited to:

• Digital Humanities, Human Centered Design, Intercultural Competence, Language Learning, Pedagogy of Language and Culture, Smart Mapping, Equality and Inclusion, Immersive Art, Immersive Literature, Rhetoric of Immersion, Narrative and Story Telling, Text as World, Text as Game, Poetics of Immersion, Theories of Immersion, Emotions, Embodiment

Author Info

Submitted papers must follow the same guidelines as the main conference submissions. Please visit https://immersivelrn.org/ilrn2020/call-for-papers-proposals/ for guidelines and templates.

Available formats for this special track:

• Full paper (6-8 pages) for oral presentation
• Short paper (4-6 pages) for oral presentation

For submitting a paper to this special track, please use the submission system https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ilrn2020 , log in with an account or register, and select the track “ST2: Place, Presence, Perspective: How the Immersive Technologies Mediate and Create Cultural Capital” to add your submission.

Special Track Chairs

• Lucia Binotti, UNC Chapel Hill
• Jonathon Richter, Salish Kootenai College Jacob Stiglitz, UNC Chapel Hill
• Christi Fenison, UNC Chapel Hill

Program Committee

• Ivonne Chirino-Klevans, UNC Chapel Hill
• Stephan Casper, Clackson University
• Paul Spence, NZ VRARA

Contact

For more information, please contact  lbinotti@email.unc.edu

ST3. Track on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access and Social Justice (IDEAS) in XR environments

Overview

The Special Track on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access and Social justice (IDEAS) at the iLRN 2020 Conference will focus on XR environments’ use, implementation and design with historically disadvantaged, systemically oppressed and underrepresented populations. These groups include women, people with disabilities, racial and ethnic minorities, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, older adults, LGBTQ+, or people from low-middle income countries or low-resource/rural areas.

This Special Track will prioritize proposals which emphasize social justice, as well as the equitable participation and inclusion of disempowered, vulnerable and low- resource populations in all phases of research, development, use, and evaluation of immersive technologies.

This special track will consider the following types of proposals: a) empirical and emergent research; b) Immersive software and hardware design; and c) technical, pedagogical, and theoretical frameworks and workflow processes.

List of Topics

The  topics  of interest  include, but are  not limited to:

• Equitable participation and inclusion of different groups into research, creation, design, implementation, and evaluation of immersive environments
• Requirements and skills for instructional design in immersive learning environments
• Future vision on technology applications to support representation of these groups
• Barriers to accessibility of immersive equipment and software for different populations
• Research on design decisions of immersive technologies and their impact on outcomes
• Critical and other research methodologies in immersive learning research
• Adoption and diffusion of immersive technologies by members of different populations
• Ethical instructor and researcher decisions with immersive technologies and environments
• Advance the use of immersive technologies to reduce barriers or increase equity.

Author Info

Submitted papers must follow the same guidelines as the main conference submissions. Please visit https://immersivelrn.org/ilrn2020/call-for-papers-proposals/ for guidelines and templates.

Available formats for this special track:

• Full paper (6-8 pages) for oral presentation
• Short paper (4-6 pages) for oral presentation

For submitting a paper to this special track, please use the submission system https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ilrn2020 , log in with an account or register, and select the track “ST3: Special Track on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access and Social Justice (IDEAS) in XR environments” to add your submission.

Special Track Chairs

• Erica L. Troncoso, MA; Technical Advisor, Innovations and Technology Solutions, Jhpiego
• Dennis E. Beck, PhD. Associate Professor of Educational Technology, University of Arkansas
• Noah Glaser, PhD Candidate, University of Cincinnati
• Don McMahon, PhD; Assistant Professor Special Education Technology,
• Washington State University

Program Committee

• Erica L. Troncoso, MA; Technical Advisor, Innovations and Technology Solutions, Jhpiego
• Dennis E. Beck, PhD; Associate Professor of Educational Technology, University of Arkansas
• Noah Glaser, PhD Candidate; University of Cincinnati
• Don McMahon, PhD; Assistant Professor Special Education Technology, Washington State University

Contact

For more information, please contact :

• Erica L. Troncoso, erica.troncoso@jhpiego.org
• Dennis E. Beck, debeck@uark.edu
• Noah Glaser, glasernh@ucmail.uc.edu
• Don McMahon, don.mcmahon@wsu.edu

ST4. Self and Co-regulated Learning with Immersive Learning Environments (SCILE)

Overview

This Special Track on Self and Co-Regulated Learning (SCRL) with Immersive Learning Environments aims to share and value contributions – including pedagogical and didactic experiences – that employ or promote SCRL strategies involving immersive learning environments. These environments include technology-rich ones (video games, simulations, virtual worlds, IoT, pervasive and ubiquitous computing) and non-technological immersive ones (role-play in immersive settings, active learning within the environment, etc.). All learning situations are of interest (formal/informal, face-to-face/distance learning, K-12/VET/Higher Education/Professional Training/Continuing Education, etc.). Contributions should highlight the SCRL strategies promoted, the results obtained and recommendations for future research, in an international context. Likewise, this special track aims to offer a space for sharing ideas and reflections regarding pedagogical techniques, immersive learning environments, and tools that allow for an in-depth understanding and effective development of strategies for self and co-regulation of learning in each phase of people’s lives.

List of Topics

The  topics  of interest  include, but are  not limited to:

• Self and Co-regulation of Learning in/with immersive environments
• Learning and Teaching approaches for SCRL in/with immersive environments
• Use of immersive technologies in Education: virtual worlds, simulations, augmented, virtual, and mixed reality, video games
• Instructional design and strategies for SCRL in/with immersive environments
• Tools and methods for understanding, promoting, and managing SCRL strategies in/with immersive environments
• Challenges and approaches to deploy SCRL strategies in/with immersive environments
• Fields accounts of SCRL strategies in/with immersive environment

Author Info

Submitted papers must follow the same guidelines as the main conference submissions. Please visit https://immersivelrn.org/ilrn2020/call-for-papers-proposals/ for guidelines and templates.

Available formats for this special track:

• Full paper (6-8 pages) for oral presentation
• Short paper (4-6 pages) for oral presentation

For submitting a paper to this special track, please use the submission system https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ilrn2020 , log in with an account or register, and select the track “ST4: Self and Co-regulated Learning with Immersive Learning Environments (SCILE)” to add your submission.

Special Track Chairs

• Daniela Cristina Carneiro Pedrosa, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal / Research Centre “Didactics and Technology in Education of Trainers”, Aveiro, Portugal / Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.
• José Paulo Cravino, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal / Research Centre “Didactics and Technology in Education of Trainers”, Aveiro, Portugal.
• Leonel Caseiro Morgado, Universidade Aberta, Coimbra, Portugal / INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal / LEAD, Laboratório de Ensino a Distância, Universidade Aberta, Lisboa, Portugal. CIAC, Centro de Investigação em Artes e Comunicação, Faro, Portugal.

Program Committee

• Ana-Maria Cazan, University Transilvania of Brasov, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Brasov, Romania
• Anastasia Kitsantas, George Mason University, USA
• Antonio Bartolomé, University of Barcelona, Spain
• António Coelho, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
• Claudia Machado, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
• Evely Boruchovitch, Universidade Estadual de Campinas – UNICAMP, Brasil
• Fabrício Herpich, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil
• Giuliana Dettori, Institute for Educational Technology of Italy’s National Research Council, Italy
• Gokce Akcayir, University of Alberta, Canada
• Indika Perera, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
• Jorge Luis Bacca Acosta, Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz, Colombia
• José Bidarra, Universidade Aberta, Portugal
• Ken Kahn, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
• Mário Madureira Fontes, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brasil
• Nada Dabbagh, Pennsylvania State University, USA
• Pedro Rosário, Universidade do Minho, Portugal
• Roger Azevedo, University of Central Florida, Orlando, United States of America
• Teresa Bettencourt, Universidade de Aveiro & CIDTFF, Portugal
• Teresa Pessôa, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal

Contact

For more information, please contact :

• Daniela Cristina Carneiro Pedrosa, dpedrosa@ua.pt

ST5. 2020 Immersive and Engaging Educational Experiences (IEEEXP) – Fifth Special Track on Immersive and Engaging Educational Experiences

Overview

This track aims for content at the intersection of interactive digital experiences (most notably video games), learning and engagement, particularly through immersion. More and more virtual reality platforms, virtual world environments, augmented/alternate/mixed reality applications, game​-based experiences, and various forms of interactive media are designed to create engaging and immersive experiences with educational features. This can be a traditional classroom, a virtual and remote classroom setting or activities that further the educational agenda. In this track, various forms of interactive media, methods-based “entertainment with purpose” designs are discussed to create different forms of engagement. We invite scholars to discuss how we can design, develop, and analyze educational environments to be immersive and engaging, while still learning outcome oriented. The track does not only cover research on design, development, and analysis of such environments, we also invite submission describing non​-traditional and traditional design practice and development approaches to create different engaging experiences.

List of Topics

The  topics  of interest  include, but are  not limited to:

• Learning: learning in immersive environments, augmented realities, mixed realities, virtual realities, virtual worlds, and games
• Design: design techniques, practices, methods (problem-based, storytelling, scenario-based, etc.)
• Analysis: frameworks, exploration studies, user studies
• Technology: platforms, devices, engines, environments, graphics, navigation, interactions, user analysis, data analysis, procedural content generation, artificial intelligence
• Non-​traditional, non​-classroom and non-​curricular learning environments
• Development approaches to create different engaging experiences

Author Info

Submitted papers must follow the same guidelines as the main conference submissions. Please visit https://immersivelrn.org/ilrn2020/call-for-papers-proposals/ for guidelines and templates.

Available formats for this special track:

• Full paper (6-8 pages) for oral presentation
• Short paper (4-6 pages) for oral presentation

For submitting a paper to this special track, please use the submission system https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ilrn2020 , log in with an account or register, and select the track “ST5: 2020 Immersive and Engaging Educational Experiences (IEEEXP) ​ – Fifth Special Track on Immersive and Engaging Educational Experiences” to add your submission.

Special Track Chairs

• Johanna Pirker, Graz University of Technology, Austria
• Foaad Khosmood, California Polytechnic State University, USA

Program Committee

• Allan Fowler, University of Auckland, New Zealand
• Brian Mcdonald, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK
• Dominic Kao, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
• Ryan Locke, Abertay University, UK
• Volker Settgast, Fraunhofer Austria, Austria
• Kai Erenli, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna, Austria
• Zoë J. Wood, California Polytechnic State University, USA
• Britte H. Cheng, SRI International, USA
• Helen Wauck, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
• Guenter Wallner, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria

Contact

For more information, please contact :

• Johanna Pirker, jpirker@iicm.edu

ST6. Digital Transformation & Humanities

Overview

The special session will be a forum to promote the discussion on the crossroads of digital transformation and humanities, with an emphasis on Education and Communication Sciences. Of interest are theories, processes, and digital technology-infused products that can provide a significant contribution to humanities.

The session will seek to foster the participation of humanities in the immersive learning research community, and conversely to foster current immersive learning researchers view of humanities, by seeking to understand how digital transformations have been originating changes in this field of human knowledge. This combined change in perspectives can contribute to the development of the academic and technical potential of immersive learning research for humanities, enabling what has been dubbed posthumanism research. Also, it seeks to encourage researchers in the field of humanities to establish effective partnerships with immersive learning researchers, enriching this community’s knowledge and know-how on philosophy, theology, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, history, geography, psychology, political science, international relations, and more.

List of Topics

The  topics  of interest  include, but are  not limited to:

• Digital Transformation & Education Digital Transformation & Communication Posthumanism and new ways of inhabiting Cognitive ecologies
• Hybridism and multimodality
• Citizen Science
• Human Smart Cities
• Innovation ecosystems

Author Info

Submitted papers must follow the same guidelines as the main conference submissions. Please visit https://immersivelrn.org/ilrn2020/call-for-papers-proposals/ for guidelines and templates.

Available formats for this special track:

• Full paper (6-8 pages) for oral presentation
• Short paper (4-6 pages) for oral presentation

For submitting a paper to this special track, please use the submission system https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ilrn2020 , log in with an account or register, and select the track “ST6: Digital Transformation & Humanities” to add your submission.

Special Track Chairs

• Eliane Schlemmer, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos – UNISINOS, São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil
• Leonel Morgado – Universidade Aberta, Coimbra, Portugal & INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal
• José António Moreira -​ Universidade Aberta, Porto, Portugal
• João Ricardo Bittencourt – ​Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos – UNISINOS – São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil

Program Committee