Monday, September 29, 2008

Call for Pre-Conference Events at CSCL 2009

The CSCL 2009 Pre-conference Workshops & Tutorials Committee invites submissions of proposals for Pre-Conference Events by December 20, 2008.

The CSCL 2009 international conference on the theme “CSCL Practices” will be held in Rhodes, Greece, on June 8-13, 2009. Pre-conference activities will be held Monday & Tuesday, June 8 & 9, as well as on the morning of Wednesday, June 10.

Individuals and groups are invited to propose Workshops, Tutorials and Seminars. We invite a range of events varying in content, aim and structure. The general goal is to offer participants an opportunity to engage in professional exchange in an interactive and interpersonal setting.

Events should fit well with the conference theme and the ways in which technology supports individual, group or community cognition within their societal contexts. Proposed events can include sessions devoted to learning about specific concepts, methods or techniques, or to furthering our knowledge and understanding through group discussion and problem solving. Innovative event formats are encouraged.

Pre-conference Events
Workshops, tutorials and seminars can be on any major or timely topic in computer-supported collaborative learning. This includes tools (e.g., tools for more effective, efficient and enjoyable CSCL interactions; for researchers), practices (e.g., teacher best practices; the analysis of student practice), theories (e.g., learning, cognition, teaching, practice) and methods (e.g., research approaches, techniques, methodologies).

Workshops, tutorials and seminars provide a good way to start participation in an international conference. They bring together groups of researchers from around the world who have shared interests. They allow them to get to know each other in a relaxed, extended way so that they will know others at the larger conference events. They also stimulate the development of ideas and interests, often leading to collaboration, grants and publications.

In keeping with the constructivist spirit of CSCL, events are encouraged to be highly interactive. The “mini-conference” workshop style of PowerPoint slide presentations of multiple papers is discouraged. Workshops should be “working meetings” for a group of people to take advantage of being co-located to work together collaboratively on a theme of shared interest. Tutorials should be hands-on opportunities for newcomers to experience some topic under the guidance of a more experienced researcher.

In addition, in the spirit of the conference theme, Seminars will be offered for practitioners interested in incorporating computer-support into their collaborative learning pedagogies. These could be educators of teachers (faculty for pre-service teachers, trainers for in-service teacher professional development), university teachers, workplace trainers, e-learning practitioners, and even managers and decision makers from across all educational sectors. Themes of particular interest could include: CSCL scripts and learning effects; features of CSCL projects in schools; teachers’ learning goals and strategies; and effective learning activities in workplace training or e-learning.

Proposal Selection Process
• All Proposals must follow the format instructions below.
• Proposals should be submitted by December 20, 2009, as a Word document attached to an email sent to: Gerry@GerryStahl.net .
• Proposals will be reviewed by members of the Pre-conference Workshops & Tutorials Committee (Paul Kirschner and Gerry Stahl).
• Proposals will not be peer-reviewed. All proposals that are judged likely to attract between 10-50 participants and to contribute to an important topic will be accepted.
• Acceptance notifications will be sent out after January 20, 2009.
• Event participants (including organizers) will be charged a registration fee of $40 for a half-day event or $60 for a full-day event.

Proposal Format
• Proposals should be submitted in English, in accordance with the above process.
• Proposals should not exceed 3 pages, indicating:
o Format: Workshop (i.e., prepared discussion, primarily for specialists), tutorial (hands-on introduction, primarily for non-specialists), seminar (for educator trainers and workplace trainers) or other format
o Title of event
o Organizers' names and backgrounds
o Preferred date (preferably Monday or Tuesday) and length (morning session: 9.30-13.00, afternoon session: 15.00- 18.30, full day or longer)
o Theme and goals
o Intended audience, including minimal and maximal number of participants
o Description of format and activities planned
o Expected outcomes and contributions
o Participation requirements
o Prior relevant experiences of organizers
o Needed facilities and equipment

Community Events Proceedings
Pre-Conference Events will be published in a special volume of the CSCL 2009 Proceedings. Accepted Events will have to submit a three-page summary in camera-ready format following the publication guidelines and template for papers. These will be due by March 1, 2009.

Proposal Questions
Please feel free to email any questions about the Pre-Conference Events to the Committee:
o Paul Kirschner — paul.kirschner@ou.nl
o Gerry Stahl — Gerry@GerryStahl.net