SLERD 2021: Call for papers

6th International Conference on Smart Learning Ecosystem and Regional Development

2021: SLERD RELOAD

SMART LEARNING ECOSYSTEMS AND THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AFTER THE PANDEMIC

 

In 2020 the pandemic has affected the learning processes all over the world and learning ecosystems have reacted showing different degrees of resilience and promptness with emergence of similarities, differences and inequalities. Among the similarities, a tendency of the individuals to remain in a comfort zone and a general unpreparedness to operate in a full virtual space. Suddenly the two dimensions that characterizes the smart learning ecosystems – physical and virtual – started to be perceived somewhat as antithetical and it came out that the e-maturity of a learning ecosystem is not sufficient to explain and predict its transformation. Many factors concur – processual, social, individual – to determine the technological evolution of learning ecosystems and their smartness. For sure the pandemic has generated a higher awareness about the intrinsic nature of the smart learning ecosystems and it is likely that they will no longer be the same after the pandemic. Some scholars refer to an age characterized by a so-called “new normality”. What should we expect for future learning ecosystems? How “smart learning ecosystems” are already changing? In 2020 the pandemic has affected the learning processes all over the world and learning ecosystems have reacted showing different degrees of resilience and promptness with emergence of similarities, differences and inequalities. Among the similarities, a tendency of the individuals to remain in a comfort zone and a general unpreparedness to operate in a full virtual space. Suddenly the two dimensions that characterizes the smart learning ecosystems  – physical and virtual – started to be perceived somewhat as antithetical and it came out that the e-maturity of a learning ecosystem is not sufficient to explain and predict its transformation. Many factors concur – processual, social, individual – to determine the technological evolution of learning ecosystems and their smartness. For sure the pandemic has generated a higher awareness about the intrinsic nature of the smart learning ecosystems and it is likely that they will no longer be the same after the pandemic. Some scholars refer to an age characterized by a so-called “new normality”. What should we expect for future learning ecosystems? How “smart learning ecosystems” are already changing? How such changes may be related to the achievement of “a better learning for a better world” as a contribution to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ? How will they contribute to the reduction of inequalities?

SLERD 2021 is proud to invite colleagues – researchers and practitioners – from all over the world to share the efforts concerning the development of smart learning ecosystems and, contributions on how to build together a brilliant post pandemic future, where smart learning ecosystems and smart education will be even more central in the education of future citizens, and in the promotion of social innovation and territorial development.

Please Note: also this year due to the fact that pandemic is not yet attenuated enough SLERD 2021 will take place in a full blown virtual format such as the previous edition.

Topics of interests

Topics of interests can be grouped under three big themes: places for smart education, people in place centered design for smart education, supportive learning technologies and tools for smart education

Places for smart education

  • future of institutional learning
  • interplay between formal and informal learning
  • new educational models and settings
  • continuity-discontinuity of time, technology, place/space, processes in learning
  • role of, and case studies of, games and gamification in smart education
  • dual education and other alternation scheme approaches
  • monitoring and benchmarking of smartness (individual, institution, city, region)

People in place centered design for smart education

  • general frameworks and methodological advances
  • design, data and other relevant literacies
  • smart citizens’ literacies, skill and competences
  • communities and co-design in smart learning
  • sharing & participatory practices
  • open access to any resource and disparity
  • cultural influences

Supportive technologies and tools for smart education

  • intelligent tutoring systems and interfaces
  • semantic web technologies and applications
  • text/opinion mining and sentiment analysis
  • real/virtual communities and social network analysis
  • interoperability and application of open/smart data and services
  • safety & security in education
  • IoT, ubiquitous and wearable technologies
  • adaptability to educational contexts and citizens
  • role of VR in education

Important Dates

  • Paper submission:  15th March 2021 -> 31st March 2021, 23:59 GMT
  • Notification of acceptance: 30th April 2021
  • Camera-ready submission: 15th May 2021

Submission Instructions

Proceedings will be published by Springer in the Series Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies that will be indexed by SCOPUS, EI-Compendex and Springerlink.

Extended version of selected papers will be also included in a special issue of IxD&A Journal (ISSN 1826-9745, e-ISSN 2283-2998) that is indexed by SCOPUS and Emerging Sources of Web of Science.

Papers should be written according to the Springer Instruction for Authors of the series Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies.

Submission categories: SLERD welcomes long contributions (max. 12 pages), short contributions (max. 8 pages) and position papers (max 5 pages).

Submission procedure: Paper submission is handled through Easychair. SLERD follows a double-blind reviewing process, thus papers need to be fully anonymized. Authors need to upload their papers by means of this link: EasyChair SLERD 2021