Paper submission deadline: 5th March, 23:59 GMT  Deadline extension: April 2nd 23:59 GMT

8th International Conference on Smart Learning Ecosystem and Regional Development (hybrid format)

2023: SMART LEARNING ECOSYSTEMS AS ENGINES OF THE GREEN AND DIGITAL TRANSITION

The energy crises and war have underscored the need to change our living style, consumption habits, learning methods and tools. The transition towards future education is according to the Unesco thematic action track 4 encompassing digital transformation which  harnesses technology as part of larger systemic efforts. Making technology more inclusive, equitable, effective, relevant, and sustainable. Key issues mentioned are: Digital transformation of education systems; Connectivity/narrowing digital divide; inclusive/assistive technologies; Free, open and high-quality digital education content; Digital citizenship, well-being, privacy and security.
However , such transformation has to take the environment into account. The sustainable development goals (SDG) do not concern only the industry and economic transition but also learning institutions. It is called twin transition. The twin transition means digital technologies playing a key role in achieving climate neutrality, renewables, renewable hydrogen, circular economy and restoring biodiversity. However, the consumption of digital technologies needs to be measured and controlled.
These transformations have an effect on learning and needed skills; to adapt to a rapidly transforming technological reality and labour market, as well as green skills and climate awareness. Ensuring that the twin transitions are fair to all depends on substantially increasing twinning-related social expenditure, e.g., in education and lifelong learning, within a just transition framework. The current digital solution and proposed ones are for instance,  telepresence, algorithmic systems, XR/AR/VR and meta–versions of the previous, but not limited to these. Less discussion is around the appropriate infrastructures, nor on the environmental impact of increased use of digital tools in Smart Learning Ecosystems.
The topics need an in-depth discourse on their environmental friendliness and the methods we, as teachers, facilitators and learners, use, adapt and design (see, e.g., Unesco Leading SDG 4 goals). As societies change, these also affect learning approaches, models and methodologiesbest suited for appreciated values such as equity, inclusion, quality and relevance to mention a few values frequently described concerning education. These values mean to mobilise action, ambition, solidarity and solutions to sow the seeds to transform education in a rapidly changing world. The Unesco paper “The futures of education for participation in 2050” paves the way to deal with the change and ambiguity of the current and future times. The paper provides valuable insights into the transformation of education and learning approaches, models and methods with and without rupturing technologies. The complex questions of when, how and why to use digital technologies in and for learning can be approached through multiple perspectives and angles: values; informal, formal, and non-formal learning settings; infrastructural and systemic as well as technological views.
The general topics of the conference reflect the above-mentioned different perspectives aiming to provide in-depth discourse among academics, students and practitioners. SLERD 2023 is proud to invite colleagues – researchers and practitioners – from all over the world to share the efforts concerning the development of smart learning ecosystems that drive towards green and digital transformation where learning ecosystems, approaches, methods and tools promote smart learning but are also environmentally friendly activating citizens, and in the promoting social innovation and equally accessible quality education.

General Topics of interests

General 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

• AI for smart learning ecosystems: Ethical aspects, tools and H-AI interaction
• 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: 5th March, 23:59 GMT  Deadline extension: April 2nd 23:59 GMT
• Notification of acceptance: 26th April 2023
• Camera-ready submission: 5th May 2023 Deadline extension: May 10th 23:59 GMT

Submission Instructions

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

Proceedings will be published by Springer in the Series Advances in Sustainability Science and Technology that will be indexed by SCOPUS, EI-Compendex and Springerlink.

Extended version of selected papers will be 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.

Submission categories: Contributions are expected to contain min. 4500 words (about 10 pages). The max. length of the contributions should not overcome 16 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 2023