Dear colleague, We are happy to announce and invite you to submit a paper to the: IGACLE: Individual and Group Adaptation in Collaborative Learning Environments at the Third European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning Maastricht, The Netherlands, September 17-19 2008 (http://www.ectel08.org/) (Submission deadline: 20th of June, 2008) WORKSHOP SITE: ============== * at the main conference: http://www.ectel08.org/workshops * independent site: http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~acristea/IGACLE/ Suggested themes that the papers should be addressing include, but are not limited to: THEMES: ======== • Models: Which aspects of users and groups (and their activities) need to be modelled and can be inferred or observed in the interaction between users or between user and system in order to support collaboration in learning environments? • Adaptation Methods & Techniques: Which existing methods and techniques can be reused or tailored to activity-oriented collaboration in learning environments? How can individualized and group adaptation be combined? • Adaptation Languages: How can collaborative activities be formally described? How to author adaptations to and of collaborative activities in learning environments? • Authoring: what important issues appear when authoring for collaborative adaptation in learning environments? • Evaluation: How can group adaptation be best evaluated in learning environments? • Standards: What standards can be applied for group adaptation in learning environments? • Web 2.0: What Web 2.0 techniques can be used for group adaptation in learning environments? • Semantic Web: What Semantic Web technologies are appropriate for group adaptation in learning environments? MOTIVATION OF THE WORKSHOP: ========================== The current workshop is the second in the series started with the Adaptive Collaboration Support Workshop at the 5th International Conference on Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Web-Based Systems (AH’2008). Similarly to the previous workshop, the current workshop targets an emerging topic in adaptive hypermedia: Adaptive Collaboration Support. Traditionally, Adaptive Hypermedia Systems were mainly geared towards adaptation of content and its delivery. Classic techniques such as adaptive link annotation, adaptive fragment hiding or sequencing manipulate the content or the presentation of the content to suit the user's individual needs. Most methods work at the content level, too. Only recently, have attempts been made to exploit adaptive techniques in order to support user activities. A prominent case where activity support becomes vital is collaboration: when two or more people work together toward a common goal, there is usually no given content to be presented, but the participants engage in an activity-oriented process. This process can be supported or optimized in a number of ways. For example, systems might observe interaction patterns and suggest the creation of communication sub-channels (e.g., a chat-room for three participants) or recommend suitable collaborators. Application areas for Adaptive Collaboration Support include but are not limited to collaborative learning, synchronous and asynchronous on-line discussion, video conferencing, group decision support, etc. In addition to keeping with the previous theme of adaptive group collaboration, the current workshop places the two types of adaptation face-to-face: traditional individualized adaptation, and group adaptation. The current workshop is especially aiming at establishing similarities, differences and ways of inter-weaving individualized and group adaptation. Moreover, the current workshop limits itself to applications in the educational field, which sets its own conditions and constraints. The current workshop also seeks to find answers on the question of how top-down Semantic Web Technology, and bottom-up, trendy Web 2.0 methods, folksonomies, etc. can be used in the implementation of individualized and group adaptation for learning environments. Therefore, important issues to discuss are, among others: • How can group-based adaptation in learning environments best be achieved? • How can our current knowledge of individualized adaptation and personalization in learning environments help us in creating group-based adaptation? • How can individualized and group adaptation be combined in learning environments? • Can group adaptation in learning environments be based on standards only, or to what extent is this possible? • How and to what extent can Semantic Web standards be applied in the group adaptation process? • How can Web 2.0 concepts and methodology be used in group adaptation? How can semantics and ontologies be extracted from folksonomies in a useful manner for group adaptation? • How can authoring for adaptive educational material be extended to comprise authoring for group-based collaboration in learning environments? TARGET AUDIENCE: ================ The workshop is targeted at all people working towards or just interested in state-of-the art on the discovery and use of patterns, formalisms, mechanisms and implementations that can help them to develop adaptive learning environments, for individualized as well as group adaptation in the educational domain and beyond. As the technology advances, and as the web standards are becoming more competitive, communities from different corners, such as Adaptive Hypermedia and Semantic Web need to be brought together, to solve new issues, such as the question of how to best adapt depending on the number of participants (1 to many). Moreover, this workshop is also targeted at people interested in the new Web 2.0 methods technologies, and in how these can be applied to push forward the adaptation process, by using the force of the masses, instead of the expertise of the few (as is the case in the Semantic Web). Thus, the target audience includes researchers and practitioners that are active in all these fields, as well as representatives of larger projects or networks dealing with these issues. We encourage this audience to submit papers to the workshop on their latest results and ideas. Moreover, the workshop is also targeted at people who are interested to hear and discuss the state of the art and the future of this important domain of technology-enhanced learning. We encourage them to participate actively in the discussions for which time will be especially allocated, as well as in the other interactive sections, such as questionnaires and (if possible) demos. The workshop’s main aim is to bring together researchers and practitioners working or interested in the fields of educational technology, semantic web, Web 2.0, adaptive hypermedia. We expect to extract and discuss these merge of research and application directions, as well as see their implementations and evaluations, encouraging the transition towards standard extensions and improvements in the field. Participants are expected to leave with a better knowledge of the state of the art of the field, as well as to have a fruitful brain-storming session generating new ideas and opening new paths. Results of the discussions and questionnaire processing will be posted after the workshop on-line on the workshop site, as is the case with the previous editions of this workshop. ORGANIZATION OF THE WORKSHOP: ============================= This is a one-day workshop. There will be paper presentation (full; short; posters) and discussions+panel. These discussions will be open to all; not only those who have papers accepted at the workshop but also any other interested parties are welcome. After the paper presentations, the discussion based on these questions will begin. Both the presenters and the audience will be asked to contribute to the answering of these questions. We intend to continue the tradition started in the past workshop series, where this discussion was organized in the form of a panel of well-known invited speakers, which triggered and broadened the discussion with the rest of the audience. EXPECTED RESULTS: ================ The workshop will also lead to a better understanding and cross-dissemination of how adaptive technology, Semantic Web technology, standards and methods, as well as Web 2.0 methods can be applied in the field of collaborative learning. The workshop aims to attract the interest of the related research and practitioner communities to the important issues of personalization and adaptation, with special focus on group-learning and group-work in learning environments, supported, where possible by technologies and techniques from the Semantic Web and Web 2.0; to discuss the current state of the art in this field; and to identify new challenges in the field. Moreover, the workshop can be seen as a platform that enables the cooperation and exchange of information between European and non-European projects. PAPERS AT THE WORKSHOP: ====================== We welcome discussion proposals as well as research papers. Papers accepted for the workshop will be published in workshop proceedings. Selected papers will also be invited for a Special Issue in a selected journal. IMPORTANT DATES: ================ 20th of June, paper deadline 25th of July, author notification 8th of August, camera ready from authors 17-19, workshop in Maastricht SUBMISSION CATEGORIES: ===================== Full papers: 15 pages original mature research results Short papers: 8 pages original ongoing research Posters: 6 pages original ongoing research or research ideas of visual nature All submissions must be formatted according to Springer LNCS guidelines and submitted as informed by the ECTEL2008 website. All submissions will undergo a thorough reviewing and refereeing process in order to decide on acceptance. The submissions should be in the format of Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). Please check http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html for instructions on how to prepare submissions. IMPORTANT: Selected papers will also be invited for a Special Issue in a selected journal! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ WORKSHOP CO-CHAIRS: =================== Alexandra I. Cristea, University of Warwick (UK) Paul De Bra, Eindhoven University of Technology (NL) _______________________________________________ Als mailing list Als@listserv.csv.warwick.ac.uk http://listserv.csv.warwick.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/als