Martin Dougiamas is best known as the founder of the open-source Moodle project which provides a free learning platform now used in every country around the world and in every education sector. In some countries Moodle is the standard learning platform for around 90% of all schools and Universities.
As the CEO of Moodle Pty Ltd (based in Perth, Western Australia) he leads the company of 50 software developers and educators that guides and supports the Moodle project (including MoodleCloud, Moodle Mobile, Moodle Academy and other initiatives). Moodle Pty Ltd has also created a global network of 85 certified Moodle Partner companies that help provide funding for this independent software project through a business model that has proven sustainable over the last 12 years.
Martin has a mixed academic background with multiple post-graduate degrees in Computer Science and Education, including an honorary doctorate from Universitat de Vic in Catalonia, and continues to focus on researching how technology can support teaching and learning in open and human ways.
The analysis of data collected from user interactions with educational and information technology has attracted much attention as a promising approach for advancing our understanding of the learning process. This promise motivated the emergence of the new field learning analytics and mobilized the education sector to embrace the use of data for decision-making. This talk will first introduce the field of learning analytics and touch on lessons learned from some well-known case studies. The talk will then identify critical challenges that require immediate attention in order for learning analytics to make a sustainable impact on learning and teaching practice. The talk will specifically focus on the methods that can be used to understand learning strategies learners follow and assess effectiveness of learning designs. The talk will conclude by discussing a set of milestones selected as critical for the maturation of the field of learning analytics. The most important take away from the talk will be that learning analytics are about learning and that computational aspects of learning analytics need to be integrated deeply with educational research and practice.
Dragan Gasevic is a Professor and Chair in Learning Analytics and Informatics in the Moray House School of Education and the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. He is the current president and a co-founder of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) and holds several honorary adjunct appointments in Australia, Canada, and USA. A computer scientist by training and skills, Dragan considers himself a learning analyst who develops computational methods that can shape next-generation learning technologies and advance our understanding of self-regulated and social learning. Funded by granting agencies and industry in Canada, Australia, Europe, and USA, Dragan is a recipient of several best paper awards at the major international conferences in learning and software technology. Committed to the development of international research community, Dragan had a pleasure to serve as a founding program co-chair of the International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (LAK) in 2011 and 2012 and the Learning Analytics Summer Institute in 2013 and 2014, and general chair of LAK’16. Currently serving as a founding editor of the Journal of Learning Analytics, Dragan is a (co-)author of numerous research papers and books and a frequent keynote speaker.
Student learning is complex. All phases of student experiences produce data - in the classrooms, in the labs, on the net, within social networks, when with friends and when interacting with loved ones. With access to these big, continuous, and disparate data-sets, learning experiences can be characterized based on quality of the content, personalized assessments, learners’ comprehension, topic associations made by learners, learners’ feelings/emotive states, learners' insights, learners' assumptions in discussions, effectiveness of peer networks, instructional capacity, learner challenges, learners’ confidence, learners' recognition of new skills, and learners' refinement of gained competencies. Such characterizations not only enable the capture of information on where, why, how, and when learning happens, but also empower refinement of instructional measures employed by the institution in a continuous manner. This talk will focus on making learning smart by using adaptivity and personalization approaches to provide individualized instruction.
Dr Kinshuk is the Dean of the College of Information at the University of North Texas, USA. Prior to that, he held the NSERC/CNRL/Xerox/McGraw Hill Research Chair for Adaptivity and Personalization in Informatics, funded by the Federal government of Canada, Provincial government of Alberta, and by national and international industries. He was also Full Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems and Associate Dean of Faculty of Science and Technology, at Athabasca University, Canada. His work has been dedicated to advancing research on the innovative paradigms, architectures and implementations of online and distance learning systems for individualized and adaptive learning in increasingly global environments. With more than 500 research publications in refereed journals, international refereed conferences and book chapters, he is frequently invited as keynote or principal speaker in international conferences and visiting professor around the world. He has been twice awarded the prestigious fellowship of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2008 and 2013). Dr Kinshuk is Founding Chair of IEEE Technical Committee on Learning Technologies, and the New Zealand Chapter of ACM SIG on Computer-Human Interaction. He is also Founding Editor of the SSCI indexed Educational Technology & Society Journal, and Springer's open access Smart Learning Environments journal.
Basic principles of Klagenfurt School of Engineering Pedagogy have served as the basis of the philosophy of International Society of Engineering Pedagogy (IGIP) since its foundation in 1972. IGIP philosophy in turn serves as effective basis for contemporary STEM teaching and learning, taking account of today’s students’ differences. The philosophy of IGIP is built up on several philosophical questions and aims. The methodology and model of Engineering Pedagogy Science are introduced in the keynote along with IGIP philosophy and didactical principles being supported by IGIP curriculum.
Tiia Rüütmann (15.03.1959) is Associate Professor and head of Estonian Centre of Engineering Pedagogy at Institute of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Tallinn University of Technology (TUT), Estonia. Tiia Rüütmann received her Ph.D. in education (specialisation in teaching technical subjects) at University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic in 2007. She received her MSc in chemical engineering at TUT in 1992 and graduated TUT as an engineer of chemical technology and cybernetics in 1982. She teaches Engineering Pedagogy Science, Laboratory Didactics, and Didactics of Higher Education at TUT. She is the author or co-author of more than 60 peer-reviewed articles. Her recent publications are on effective teaching of engineering and on STEM pedagogy, didactics and curriculum design. She is a member of of Nordic-Baltic Network in Higher Education Development, IEEE Education Society and IGIP, being a member of IGIP Executive Committee and the president of IGIP International Monitoring Committee.
| 20 Oct 2016 | Abstract submission, Proposals for Special Sessions |
| 02 Nov 2016 | Invitation to submit complete paper (postponed, was expected for Oct 31st) |
| 06 Dec 2016 | Complete paper submission, Panel and Workshop proposals |
| 23 Jan 2017 | Notification of Acceptance |
| 17 Feb 2017 | Author registration and payment, Camera-ready submission |
| 25 Apr 2017 | Pre-conference Workshops |
| 26 Apr 2017 | Conference Opening |
