The dates for the ISLS Annual Meeting 2021 will not change. We’ll be running all workshops and sessions during the originally scheduled conference dates: June, 7-11, 2021. 

As we move the ISLS Annual Meeting 2021 completely online, we look forward to offering you a vibrant conference programme, networking possibilities for you to connect to your fellow CSCL and LS researchers, opportunities to socialize online during the event, and maybe even dance!  In addition to participating in the live event, attendees will have access to on-demand paper presentation recordings.

All calls for participation are still valid. We invite submissions for: 

• Full and short Papers, Posters, Symposia (https://2021.isls.org/submit-papers-posters-and-symposia/)
• Pre-Conference Workshops and Tutorials (https://2021.isls.org/propose-pre-conference-workshops-tutorials/)
• Interactive Tools & Demos (https://2021.isls.org/propose-interactive-tools-and-demos/)
• Doctoral Consortium (https://2021.isls.org/apply-for-doctoral-consortium/)
• Early Career Workshop (https://2021.isls.org/apply-for-early-career-workshop/)
• Mid-Career Workshop (https://2021.isls.org/apply-for-mid-career-workshop/)

In light of shifting to an online event, we are extending the deadline for papers, posters & symposia until November 13th. Please submit your contributions using https://isls2021.exordo.com .

We look forward to welcoming you to the Online ISLS Annual Meeting in June 2021 and hope that you will join us for this reimagined event and embrace the opportunity to connect with the ISLS community. Until then, we are here to help and support you in response to your questions. Please feel free to reach out to us, the local organizing team of ISLS 2021, at isls2021-am@rub.de. For questions related to paper submission and review, please contact the ISLS 2021 Program Chairs at isls2021pc@lists.ruhr-uni-bochum.de.

Program Chairs and Local Team on behalf of the ISLS 2021 Steering Committee

Interested potential organizers are asked to submit a two-page letter of interest that includes the following information:

• the proposed organizers of the Annual Meeting, including brief statements of their relationships to the Learning Sciences and/or CSCL communities along with contact information;
• theme for the Annual Meeting;
• dates that can be accommodated during the month of June;
• the location and venue (e.g., academic institution, hotel, conference center);
• attractions and opportunities of the location and surrounding areas.

Note: The 2021 ISLS Annual Meeting is planned for Bochum, Germany and in 2022 for Hiroshima, Japan.

Letters of interest must be submitted by December 31, 2020 to Ulrich Hoppe, ISLS Conference Committee chair, at uh@rias-institute.eu. The Conference Committee welcomes discussions prior to submission of letters of interest, arranged by emailing uh@rias-institute.eu. Letters of interest received by December 31, 2020 will be evaluated by the ISLS Conference Committee.

Reflecting the Past and Embracing the Future

Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany, June 7-11

https://2021.isls.org/

The International Society of the Learning Sciences Annual Meeting 2021 marks the move from biannual meetings of CSCL and ICLS to yearly convenings of each at the same Annual Meeting. The two parallel conference programs, CSCL and LS, each address the 2021 Annual Meeting theme Reflecting the Past and Embracing the Future. A common set of keynotes and workshops bring the entire international community together. The Annual Meeting in 2021 will be hybrid. Both on-site and online events are planned.

Keynote Speakers:

Carol K.K. Chan, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong

Onur Güntürkün​, Biopsychology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Carolyn Rosé, Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

The CSCL and the LS program committees each invite submissions for 

• Full and short Papers, Posters, Symposia (https://2021.isls.org/submit-papers-posters-and-symposia/)
• Pre-Conference Workshops and Tutorials (https://2021.isls.org/propose-pre-conference-workshops-tutorials/)

Important Dates:

• Full and short Papers, Posters, Symposia: November 6, 2020
• Preconference Workshops and Tutorials: December 11, 2020
• Acceptances announced: February 20, 2021

Watch for Submission Calls for Doctoral Consortium, Early and Mid-Career Workshops, and Interactive Demos 

For more information, please visit https://2021.isls.org/
The site will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

If you have any further questions, please contact isls2021-am@rub.de

About ISLS
ISLS is a professional society dedicated to the interdisciplinary empirical investigation of learning as it exists in real-world settings and how learning may be facilitated both with and without technology. The ISLS Annual Meeting hosts two professional conferences in parallel, CSCL and LS. Visit the ISLS site at http://www.isls.org

Welcome to Bochum!

Nikol Rummel and Ulrich Hoppe

On behalf of the ISLS 2021 steering committee

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed school and higher education on a global scale with the rise of online teaching and learning. Online education typically involves the organization of learning objects for widely self-regulated forms of individual learning. Students and teachers alike often miss out on direct, mutual feedback of co-present social interaction.

Repository of good practices of learning together online

The Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) community of the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS) together with the Network of Academic Programs in the Learning Sciences (NAPLeS) has started an initiative to collect and disseminate effective practices, approaches, and tools for fostering a sense of co-presence and community in online teaching and learning. Collaborative forms of learning aim to develop practices of collaboration and critical thinking as well as skills for working together, building trust, and equal access to quality education. In a series of online events and resources for realizing CSCL in a time of crisis, the CSCL Community would like to invite CSCL practitioners and researchers to share practical approaches, practices, and tools for learning collaboratively online for building a repository of CSCL practices.

Award

Accepted contributions will be awarded with $800 USD each after introducing the approach in a live broadcast of 60 min including Q & A to be recorded and uploaded, creating a standardized overview of the respective approach, and creating and granting access to necessary resources on the NAPLeS website of the ISLS. Winners will also be invited to submit a brief description of their contribution to the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning.

Eligibility

The call is open to CSCL researchers and practitioners, preferably teaming up to arrive at a broad representation of practices across the globe.

 Topics

The CSCL topics include but are not limited to:

- Innovative designs and tools for CSCL

- Learning analytics in CSCL

- Learning from peers in CSCL

- CSCL practices to foster 

- Collaborative inquiry of today’s authentic challenges, e.g. the pandemic

- Inter-cultural communication and diversity

- Education for equity and anti-racism

- Social presence in online learning

- Argumentation and critical thinking for scrutinizing online information

- Building trust, rapport, and social skills

- Agency, confidence, and engagement in active learning

Submission requirements 

Please submit a description of your approach until September 30th, 2020, following the structure below:

- Title

- Learning goals and/or targeted learning processes 

- Target groups (600 characters max)

- Tool(s) (600 characters max)

- Procedure (elaborate so that a 3rd person could apply your approach) (6000 characters max)

- Teacher scaffolds (instructions and examples, e.g. points for discussion) (1800 characters max)

- Theoretical grounding and findings from (pilot) studies  (1800 characters max)

- Additional resources that illustrate your approach (e.g. links or videos - please indicate availability and copyrights) (1800 characters max)

- Tentative date for a presentation + Q&A in a live broadcast (please note, we aim to schedule your session according to your preferences, but cannot guarantee a certain time slot)

- Your affiliation, name, and email address (please do not forget this)

Submission

Application must be submitted prior to 11:59 PM of Pacific Daylight Time of the due date, October, 19th, 2020.

Application materials must be submitted online at https://forms.gle/ZsCjMiyDFUCe8yUz8

Please note that you need to agree with the following points: The live broadcast is supposed to take 60 min including presentation and Q&A. The live broadcast will be recorded and uploaded on the NAPLeS website (http://isls-naples.psy.lmu.de/) as an open educational resource together with the description of your approach, slides, and any additional resources, such as links, videos, and illustrations you can add. 

Review Process

The proposals will be reviewed by the CSCL committee regarding fit with the call, theoretical grounding, feasibility, and innovation. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed school and higher education on a global scale with the rise of online teaching and learning. Online education typically involves the organization of learning objects for widely self-regulated forms of individual learning. Students and teachers alike often miss out on direct, mutual feedback of co-present social interaction.

Repository of good practices of learning together online

The Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) community of the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS) together with the Network of Academic Programs in the Learning Sciences (NAPLeS) has started an initiative to collect and disseminate effective practices, approaches, and tools for fostering a sense of co-presence and community in online teaching and learning. Collaborative forms of learning aim to develop practices of collaboration and critical thinking as well as skills for working together, building trust, and equal access to quality education. In a series of online events and resources for realizing CSCL in a time of crisis, the CSCL Community would like to invite CSCL practitioners and researchers to share practical approaches, practices, and tools for learning collaboratively online for building a repository of CSCL practices.

Award

Accepted contributions will be awarded with $800 USD each after introducing the approach in a live broadcast of 60 min including Q & A to be recorded and uploaded, creating a standardized overview of the respective approach, and creating and granting access to necessary resources on the NAPLeS website of the ISLS. Winners will also be invited to submit a brief description of their contribution to the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning.

Eligibility

The call is open to CSCL researchers and practitioners, preferably teaming up to arrive at a broad representation of practices across the globe.

 Topics

The CSCL topics include but are not limited to:

- Innovative designs and tools for CSCL

- Learning analytics in CSCL

- Learning from peers in CSCL

- CSCL practices to foster 

- Collaborative inquiry of today’s authentic challenges, e.g. the pandemic

- Inter-cultural communication and diversity

- Education for equity and anti-racism

- Social presence in online learning

- Argumentation and critical thinking for scrutinizing online information

- Building trust, rapport, and social skills

- Agency, confidence, and engagement in active learning

Submission requirements 

Please submit a description of your approach until September 30th, 2020, following the structure below:

- Title

- Learning goals and/or targeted learning processes 

- Target groups (600 characters max)

- Tool(s) (600 characters max)

- Procedure (elaborate so that a 3rd person could apply your approach) (6000 characters max)

- Teacher scaffolds (instructions and examples, e.g. points for discussion) (1800 characters max)

- Theoretical grounding and findings from (pilot) studies  (1800 characters max)

- Additional resources that illustrate your approach (e.g. links or videos - please indicate availability and copyrights) (1800 characters max)

- Tentative date for a presentation + Q&A in a live broadcast (please note, we aim to schedule your session according to your preferences, but cannot guarantee a certain time slot)

- Your affiliation, name, and email address (please do not forget this)

Submission

Application must be submitted prior to 11:59 PM of Pacific Daylight Time of the due date, September, 30th, 2020.

Application materials must be submitted online at https://forms.gle/ZsCjMiyDFUCe8yUz8

Please note that you need to agree with the following points: The live broadcast is supposed to take 60 min including presentation and Q&A. The live broadcast will be recorded and uploaded on the NAPLeS website (http://isls-naples.psy.lmu.de/) as an open educational resource together with the description of your approach, slides, and any additional resources, such as links, videos, and illustrations you can add. 

Review Process

The proposals will be reviewed by the CSCL committee regarding fit with the call, theoretical grounding, feasibility, and innovation. 

The call welcomes contributions covering any topics within the scope of the journal.  The journal serves as a forum for experts from such disciplines as education, computer science, information technology, psychology, communications, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, and business. Articles investigate how to design the technological settings for collaboration and how people learn in the context of collaborative activity.  Thus, the papers included in special issue proposals may represent a variety of theoretical perspectives and different methodological approaches. The major criteria in the review and the selection process concern the significance of the contribution to the area of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, and the rigor of the study.

Proposals for a Special Issue should have a well-articulated unifying theme and reflect, at an international level, the best work in a particular research area.  Proposals may target either a well-established area or an important emerging area, in which future investigation may be boosted by the publication of a set of excellent papers. We particularly encourage submission of Special Issues exhibiting diversity in terms of regional and/or disciplinary representation.

Specifically, a proposal for a Special Issue should include:

•       the name and address for communication of the guest editor(s);
•       a 500-word rationale explaining the scope and significance of the proposed theme;
•       a list of the authors of at least 6 contributions and 2 commentators, all with affiliations;
•       a 1000-word abstract for each of the 6 contributions, including at least 5 key references;
•       a preliminary time schedule for the preparation of the Special Issue;
•       10 possible reviewers of the single papers, who are not involved as authors.

The formatting requirements for the submissions will be the same as typical ijCSCL submissions.  For this call, an author can be involved in only one paper. Proposals for Special Issues should be sent by December 15, 2020 directly to the co-Editors-in-Chief, Professors Sanna Järvelä (sanna.jarvela@oulu.fi) and Carolyn Rosé (cprose@cs.cmu.edu).  The full set of submissions will be reviewed by the journal’s Executive and Associate editors.  The following criteria will be used in the review:

•       Suitability of the topic for the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
•       Overall quality of the proposal: originality and contribution to the field
•       Theoretical background and rationale of proposal and individual papers
•       Methodological adequacy of the individual papers
•       Clarity and significance of the results
•       Quality of discussion and conclusions
•       Completeness of the proposal
•       Guest editor(s)’ experience in editorial work

The proposal review process will take 6 to 8 weeks. Once the highest-quality proposal has been selected among those submitted, it will be the responsibility of the Guest Editor(s) to proceed within the agreed time-line.  A submission process will be set up using the journal’s online editorial system such that the papers for the selected proposal will be submitted online using the usual editorial system. Each paper will undergo a regular peer review process.

Please do not hesitate to contact the co-editors-in-chief for more information.

Best wishes,

Carolyn P. Rosé and Sanna Järvelä

15 August, 2020

International Society of the Learning Sciences Annual Meeting 2021

Reflecting the Past and Embracing the Future

Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany, June 7-11

https://2021.isls.org/

The International Society of the Learning Sciences Annual Meeting 2021 marks the move from biannual meetings of CSCL and ICLS to yearly convenings of each at the same Annual Meeting. The two parallel conference programs, CSCL and LS, each address the 2021 Annual Meeting theme Reflecting the Past and Embracing the Future. A common set of keynotes and workshops bring the entire international community together. The Annual Meeting in 2021 will be hybrid. Both on-site and online events are planned.

Keynote Speakers:

Carol K.K. Chan, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong

Onur Güntürkün​, Biopsychology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Carolyn Rosé, Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

The CSCL and the LS program committees each invite submissions for 

• Full and short Papers, Posters, Symposia (https://2021.isls.org/submit-papers-posters-and-symposia/)
• Pre-Conference Workshops and Tutorials (https://2021.isls.org/propose-pre-conference-workshops-tutorials/)

Important Dates:

• Full and short Papers, Posters, Symposia: November 6, 2020
• Preconference Workshops and Tutorials: December 11, 2020
• Acceptances announced: February 20, 2021

Watch for Submission Calls for Doctoral Consortium, Early and Mid-Career Workshops, and Interactive Demos 

For more information, please visit https://2021.isls.org/
The site will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

If you have any further questions, please contact isls2021-am@rub.de

About ISLS
ISLS is a professional society dedicated to the interdisciplinary empirical investigation of learning as it exists in real-world settings and how learning may be facilitated both with and without technology. The ISLS Annual Meeting hosts two professional conferences in parallel, CSCL and LS. Visit the ISLS site at http://www.isls.org

Welcome to Bochum!

Nikol Rummel and Ulrich Hoppe

On behalf of the ISLS 2021 steering committee

• The well-being, health, and safety of the learners, educators, staff, and community members should be the primary consideration in any decision regarding the resumption and format of formal schooling. We oppose the use of political pressure that discounts or dismisses these as primary considerations. Expert recommendations and guidance regarding public health and safety should be consulted to inform decision-making.
• Learning Sciences research has firmly established that meaningful and consequential learning takes place across the lifespan and in a multitude of settings, including but not limited to home, work, community groups, online, in the natural world, and in schools. Should the physical operation of schools be temporarily delayed or greatly altered, ISLS expects that there will still be a number of rich learning opportunities available to affected students, even during this challenging time. Statements that a resumption of physical schooling is necessary in order for students to learn is a mischaracterization of what we know about when and how meaningful learning occurs.
• The design of high quality learning experiences and curricula requires substantial time, resources, and investment, even in the best of conditions. To best support educators and researchers who are now pursuing new forms of educational design and implementation work in response to the pandemic, we urge patience and the provision of adequate support and resources so that this complex work can be done. A number of quick fixes and technocentric solutions are being proposed and endorsed without sufficient considerations of equity or the many roles that the formal education system plays in people’s lives. To find truly desirable and responsive solutions, we encourage interested parties to pursue meaningful and equal partnerships that directly involve educators and communities.
• The pandemic has affected and continues to affect individuals, families, and communities in unequal ways. For those in positions of power and influence, we urge acknowledgment of the differential impact the pandemic is having on different populations along with advocacy and meaningful action for those most negatively affected. For example, this may take the form of additional funding and the deliberate pursuit of community-responsive policies and solutions.

Individual and collective actions taken in the coming days and months will determine the nature of the pandemic’s impact on how we live and learn. Many in our community are doing important work to respond to the unexpected challenges we are all facing. As a professional academic organization, the International Society of the Learning Sciences will continue to seek out ways to support and advocate for our members and the communities that we serve.

Victor R. Lee, President

Susan Goldman, Executive Officer

Board of Directors

Kris D. Gutierrez, Board Member

Joshua Danish, Board Member & Treasurer

Ravit Golan Duncan, Board Member

Heisawn Jeong, Board Member & Past-President

A. Susan Jurow, Board Member & Incoming Co-Editor of Journal of the Learning Sciences

Oskar Lindwall, Board Member & President-Elect

Jasmine Y. Ma, Board Member & Secretary

Jun Oshima, Board Member

James D. Slotta, Board Member

If you're interested in learning more about the work of the ISLS Communications Committee, please join our online committee meeting on Monday, June 22 at 7:30 - 8:30 am US CST (that's 8:30 - 9:30am US EST, 5:30-6:30am US PST, 1:30-2:30pm UK, 2:30-3:30pm Central Europe [e.g., Netherlands]). You can join using this link.

We hope to see you then! 

The ISLS Communications Committee

As a global organization dedicated to the study of human learning and improvement of education, the  International Society of the Learning Sciences also concerns itself with how consequential learning is inextricably intertwined with the systemic inequities and oppressive ideologies that harbor anti-Black racist violence. In our educational contexts, this violence appears in our curriculum, in the voices we neglect in our syllabi, in unexamined grading and assessment policies. For our Black students, these forms of violence are compounded by the knowledge of state-sanctioned dismissal of Black bodies and life, resulting in a relentless and untenable trauma. At the same time, we must recognize and remember the strength and brilliance of these children and communities who survive and thrive under these hostile conditions.  

ISLS can and must do more to advance racial justice, to protect and lift up our most vulnerable learners and communities. We must be committed to naming the kinds of anti-Black racism driving and reflected in recent events, and the systemic inequities and oppressive ideologies that allow them to continue to occur. Last year, the Society designated a special seat on the Board for a member with scholarly expertise in equity and power. This is only the bare minimum for laying a foundation for us to change and make change. This month at our annual Board Retreat the Society’s leadership will be further educating ourselves, and interrogating our infrastructure and committee activities to better fight for Black scholars and communities, support anti-racist teaching and mentorship, and promote justice-oriented scholarship and activism. 

We also call for the learning sciences community to dedicate itself to anti-racist teaching, design, and scholarship that advances individual, social, and systemic change for justice. We offer just a few suggestions, as a start:

• In teaching, we might: Use our own privilege, whatever it may be, to help protect Black students from the many forms of violence they face. Fight institutional racism alongside our students, without allowing the burdens of anti-racist education and change to fall on them. Transform our classroom and mentoring practices, our syllabi, and our degree requirements to deliberately challenge racial violence by rejecting White supremacist logics. 
• In design, we might: Interrogate our own motivations in our work, especially if we are outsiders, to avoid saviorism and the reproduction of violent ideologies. Become knowledgeable about the ingenuity behind community partners’ existing tools and practices, then examine to whom our technologies and tools will be available, accessible, and accountable. 
• In scholarship, we might: Study how racism, particularly anti-Black racism, shapes learning ecologies, how racialization is learned, and how learners come to fight back. Leverage our interdisciplinarity to learn from one another, and define our constructs empirically through asset-based scholarship. Ground our theories of learning in framings beyond community practices into socio-political histories of violence and oppression, of joy and pride, of collective action. Humble ourselves in our collaborations with Black and other non-dominant communities so that our research may transform the field, and not be extractive of those we work with. 

Racism is institutional, structural, and pervasive, bolstered by long, interconnected and inhumane global histories of colonialism, settler colonialism, and slavery. However we choose to take up this work, we must be continually reflective and critical—good, justice-oriented intentions are in danger of causing more harm than good. 

For many of us recent events have surfaced profound grief, anger, horror, despair, fear, exhaustion, and helplessness, paired with an urgency to act. These emotions are not necessarily new, particularly for those who face anti-Black racism on a daily basis. Among all of us, they are distributed unevenly, depending on our diverse histories and positionalities. Even the outrage experienced by some (i.e., those who are not Black) is shaped by the privileges afforded by anti-Black racist policies and practices. No matter our positionality, however, these problems are all of ours to share, and we must confront them collectively.  

To our Black members, family, friends, colleagues, and students, we express our solidarity with and commitment to you. We care about you and we stand with you. We have hard work ahead of us, and we are eager to begin. Our challenge, and our opportunity, is to question if and how our work actively seeks to disrupt and dismantle institutional structures that support racism in general, and anti-Black racism in particular; how it might lift up Black bodies, Black lives, Black brilliance. Within the learning sciences over recent years, some scholarship has centered the idea of organizing possible futures: this work starts (and continues) here, and it starts with us. 

With care,

Executive Committee of the International Society of the Learning Sciences 

• Heisawn Jeong, ISLS President
• Victor Lee, President-Elect
• Joseph L. Polman, Past-President
• Susan R. Goldman, Executive Officer
• Jasmine Y. Ma, Secretary
• Joshua Danish, Financial Officer 

Statement Contributors: A. Susan Jurow, ISLS Board Member and incoming co-editor of JLS; Joshua Radinsky, past co-editor of JLS; Kris Gutiérrez, ISLS Board Member; Ilana Horn, ICLS 2020 co-chair; and ISLS members Joe Curnow, Déana Scipio, Hui-Ling S. Malone, Rishi Krishnamoorthy, Sarah C. Radke, Noor Jones-Bey

Dear Colleagues,

As you know, due to COVID 19 we were forced to cancel the face-to-face meeting of the ICLS 2020 conference in Nashville, TN. As you might imagine this was an extremely difficult decision to make. Many people have already invested a great deal of time and effort in the conference, especially the conference co-organizers Melissa Gresalfi and Lani Horn and the strand leaders, reviewers, and of course the members who have worked hard to submit your work and submissions. To each and every one of you we express our gratitude and appreciation for all of these efforts.

As our conference co-organizers have announced, we have developed a plan that will allow us to connect as scholars. This plan takes into account the impact the pandemic is having on all of our lives - the new challenges, uncertainties, and responsibilities we are faced with on a day to day basis. In this new reality we are sometimes forced to make choices about what we can and cannot do. The co-organizers have organized an exciting online conference that offers livestreaming and video recordings of the highlighted features of the conference—the keynotes, a subset of special sessions, and the best paper awardees. Watch for forthcoming announcements from the Conference Organizers for additional information.

Of course, these changes to ICLS 2020 have implications for Membership and Registration Fees.  The International Society of the Learning Sciences, compared to many academic societies, is relatively small and operates mostly on voluntary commitments from the larger community. The change in conference format substantially impacts the financial situation for ISLS, which provides the thousands of dollars in initial funding required for each year’s conference with the hope that conference registrations will be sufficient to break even so that funds are available to provide the seed funding for the next year’s conference, and so on. In order to maintain sustainability, the board has approved the following decisions.

Registration fees that have been paid for the face to face conference will be refunded. Further information will be sent to those who are due refunds within the very near future.
To be included in the Proceedings of ICLS 2020 at least one author of a presentation, paper, or poster must register for the conference. This is the case for the Proceedings of every ISLS conference.  For the ICLS 2020 Proceedings, at least one author must be registered no later than June 5, 2020.
The ICLS 2020 Conference Registration fee has been substantially reduced and offers four payment options. You must be registered for the Conference to access the online conference.

Rationale: Conference registration fees are based on projected costs of running the conference. The projected costs for running ICLS 2020 in the online format are substantial, although much less than what they would have been for a face to face meeting. The costs reflect funds already expended for professional conference organization services, professional preparation of the Proceedings, and technology infrastructure and services for the conference (e.g., submission and review system, website development and management).  In the past conference registration fees have typically covered the costs of running the conference and have had a neutral impact on the financial status of the ISLS. This year, however, ISLS anticipates a major net loss because of the COVID-19 crisis and is asking for help to mitigate this loss.
 
To that end:
a. We have reduced the ICLS 2020 Conference Registration Fee to $150.
b. We are asking those of you who can to please pay the full fee.
c. Additional Options: If the full fee is beyond your means, you may select one of three other options: $100, $50, or $0. Please pay whatever you feel you can.
 
To Register: Go to https://www.isls.org/conferences/icls-2020-registration.
You must be a member to register for the conference. (Regular membership: $100 per year; Student membership: $60.). Become a member at https://www.isls.org/members/member-registration or renew your membership at https://www.isls.org/members/membership-renewal.
 
If you have any questions or concerns please direct them to isls.covid19@gmail.com.

These are indeed trying times for all of us. Please know that we are trying to make the best decisions we can for the sake of our community. We ask for your patience as we figure this out. We hope you are all doing what you can to take care of yourselves at this difficult time. We hope to see you in person soon.

With warm regards,

Heisawn Jeong and the ISLS Board of Directors

ISLS President 2019-2020

The International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS)
Early Career Award
Due: May 1, 2020

1. Nominees for the 2020 award must have earned a Ph.D. or equivalent degree after January 1, 2011 (within 9 years of the year of nomination).
2. Scholars may be nominated more than once and can only receive the award once.
3. Nominees must have been a member (full or student) at least one year of the last 3 years from the date of submission (i.e., since April 1, 2017) or demonstrate some other connection to ISLS, as described in the nomination letter.

Evaluation Criteria: Successful nominees will have demonstrated a notable contribution to the learning sciences and the potential for future contributions.

While service and active participation in the ISLS community indicates the relevance of the nominee’s work to the field, the nominee’s scholarly contribution will be the primary consideration in the deliberation.

1. Notable learning science contributions are interpreted broadly to include one of any of the following:

• Research excellence
• Innovation
• Impact on pressing social, political, and ethical concerns

2. Potential for future contributions, such as:

• Service to the Society
• Vision for the field
• Impact on other fields, academic communities, and under-served regions of the world

Nomination Materials:

1. A nomination letter, written by a current Member of ISLS. (Membership status can be verified by contacting islsmembership@gmail.com) Nomination letters should not exceed 2-pages, single-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins.
   • Letters should concisely describe (1) the nominees’ contribution to the learning sciences and the influence the nominee has had on the field, and (2) the potential of the nominee to make future contributions to the learning sciences. The letter should emphasize innovative, novel, or influential contributions.
2. The nominee’s current Curriculum Vitae, including information of the year of nominee’s highest degree earned.
3. Representative examples of the nominee’s scholarly contributions
   • A total of no more than 3 examples of the nominee’s work.
   • At least two must be examples of the nominee’s scholarly writings. The third may be an additional scholarly writing, or an artifact, such as a learning technology developed by the nominee.

Nomination Process:

• Application materials must be submitted prior to 11:59 PM for the nominator’s local time zone of the due date, May 1, 2020.
• All submitted text information must be compiled into a single PDF document with the name of the nominee in the filename. Multimedia submissions must include the name of the nominee in the filename.
• Application materials must be submitted at this link, https://tinyurl.com/ISLS-ECA2020.

The Award:
Each Early Career Award recipient will receive a cash award of US$500, an award certificate, and waived registration fees for the subsequent ISLS conference, where the awardee is invited to present on their scholarly work.

Questions may be directed to Dr. Mitchell Nathan at MNathan@wisc.edu

We hope you are staying healthy and safe during these challenging times!

We are in challenging and uncertain times. Many of us are anxious about the whirlwind of events related to COVID-19 and its effects on our families and communities. We hope that you and yours are well and able to take all of the necessary precautions to stay healthy.

We are writing to provide an update on the ICLS 2020 conference. The ISLS Board has formed a COVID-19 Special Task Force to address the ongoing situation. The Task Force includes representatives of the ISLS Board and the local conference organizers in Nashville, Tennessee. Without question, the first priority of the Task Force is the health and safety of the ISLS community. With this in mind, we are addressing the possibility of different conference formats ––live, hybrid, or virtual –– while considering the serious financial implications for the Society.

Most current travel restrictions go out as far as 8 weeks, yet our conference is 12 weeks away. Because of existing contracts, these different timelines make it difficult to make definitive decisions at this point. We plan to track the situation closely, with a goal of re-evaluating the conference format question and implications for registration costs around mid- to late April. We will of course make adjustments as appropriate to those who may have already registered. In the meantime, we urge you to make sure your ISLS membership dues for 2020 have been paid (join here or renew your membership), because these are vital to the functioning of the organization.

In the meantime, we have made two decisions about moving forward:

• First, we are extending Early Bird registration to allow more time for people to make wise choices about their travel and for potential adjustments to the registration fees. The original Early Bird registration deadline was April 15; it is now May 7.
• Second, regardless of conference format (live, hybrid, or virtual), we want to reassure all of our authors and reviewers that we are moving ahead with the publication of the conference proceedings so that our community’s scientific contributions can be shared. As always, for your paper to be included in the proceedings at least one author must be a current ISLS member and registered for whatever version of the conference we hold.

Finally, we ask for your cooperation in directing any questions you have to the COVID-19 Special Task Force (isls.covid19@gmail.com) rather than to the ICLS 2020 conference organizers or individual board members. This will assure consistency in responding to the myriad questions we imagine you have. We ask for your understanding and patience as we navigate this complex and dynamic situation with your health and well-being foremost on our minds.

Sincerely,

Members of the ISLS COVID-19 Special Task Force

Joshua Danish, Susan Goldman, Melissa Gresalfi, Ilana Horn, Heisawn Jeong, Susan Jurow, Victor Lee, Oskar Lindwall, Jasmine Ma, and Joseph Polman

The ISLS Regional and Affinity Outreach Grants Program seeks to support the growth of regional communities of learning scientists and communities of scholars who are engaging in research that is germane and synergistic to the Learning Sciences but are currently underrepresented in ISLS. Through this grants program, we seek to provide opportunities for community building, knowledge sharing and consolidation, collaboration and cross-pollination. We seek to increase mutual awareness between ISLS and other communities with synergistic interests and expertise.

This year the ISLS is funding the following two projects which will take place in 2020. It is our hope that the accepted projects will lead to sustainable collaborations and research in future years. Preference will be given to new proposals. 

Expanding views of ‘research’ in science learning as an inclusive approach to different ‘knowledges’ 

Organizers:

• Jasmine Y. Ma, New York University 
• Ananda Marin, University of California, Los Angeles 
• Sarah C. Radke, New York University 
• Emilia A. Nhalevilo, Universidade Pedagogica in Maputo, Mozambique 
• Geraldo Nhampule, Universidade Pedagogica in Maputo, Mozambique
• Marit Dewhurst, City College of New York 

In this exchange program between research and teacher participants in the US and in Mozambique, we aim to enhance science teachers’ and science education researchers’ perceptions on the diverse kinds of knowledges under different epistemologies, supporting a culturally inclusive science education. The Learning Sciences has developed some momentum in grappling with diverse epistemologies for science learning, beyond those of dominant, Western communities, (e.g., Bang, Warren, Rosebery, & Medin, 2012; Marin & Bang, 2018), interrogating the sociohistorical and sociopolitical conditions that have constructed particular forms of science perceived as universal.This work demonstrates the value of alternative epistemologies for equitable and sustainable futures; however, this scholarship in the Learning Sciences has primarily been based in the US, and with indigenous framings grounded in the Americas. This project will contribute to a Learning Sciences field that supports the cultural diversity of today’s science classes, and theories of science learning grounded across global contexts. Additionally, we highly value learning from and inviting science education researchers as well as teachers from Mozambique to the LS community. 

Soch: Expanding Indian and Indian Diasporic Ways of Thinking in the Learning Sciences

Organizers:

• Suraj Uttamchandani, Indiana University, USA
• Vishesh Kumar, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA
• Gayithri Jayathirtha, University of Pennsylvania, USA
• Deborah Dutta, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, India

This project seeks to further understand knowledge practices, learning processes, and educational equity beyond western contexts. We will be creating Soch, a web repository to explore these issues. Our project is to conduct and record video conversations with people who have explored learning and education as it intersects with the social, cultural, historical, and political dimensions of Indian and Indian Diasporic lives. The videos would then be shared on Soch. 

To most comprehensively make sense of these issues, we hope to connect with three main groups: learning, education, and learning technology scholars based in India; teachers and other educational stakeholders in India, and; South Asian Studies scholars and/or scholars exploring these issues in the Indian diaspora. Importantly, we want to deeply consider a wide variety of sociocultural groups and center educational equity in this work. In this spirit, we actively seek to hear from scholars from minoritized groups and/or those with explicit foci on caste discrimination, LGBTQ+ lives, sexism, religious discrimination, indigenous epistemologies, and decolonization. In this initial phase of the projects we focus on India, but keeping in mind the histories of borders and movement, we use Soch as a launching ground to engage and hear from voices across the South Asian region. 

We hope Soch can catalyze new conversations around the learning sciences and educational equity in a wider array of cultural contexts.

Dimitra Tsovaltzi, Claudia Mazziotti, and Jun Oshima, Grant Program Committee, on behalf of the ISLS Membership Committee

 The goals of ILSSA include:

• Create opportunities for dialogue through conferences, publications, websites, social networking sites, committees, and other member initiatives
• Promote community, interdisciplinarity, and intellectual exchange among students
• Advocate for and support active student engagement at ISLS conferences
• Facilitate and support dedicated student sessions at ISLS conferences in collaboration with the Society and conference organizers
• Work with ISLS, committees, and other ISLS members in advocating for student interests
• Advocate for and support student-focused initiatives, such as mentorship meet-ups, workshops, webinars, and resources.

ILSSA was created for students, by students, and we invite you to join us in continuing to develop the association. All student members of ISLS are automatically part of ILSSA. As we flesh out the details, you can join the conversation via our Slack workspace or our Facebook page which are both open to all students of the learning sciences (including non-members of ISLS). 

We’re also looking to fill several vacant roles of the interim ILSSA committee:

Vacant - Treasurer (interim until June 30, 2020)
Vacant - Asia-Pacific Regional Rep - (interim until June 30, 2020)
Vacant - Europe/UK Regional Rep - (interim until June 30, 2020)
Vacant - Global South Regional Rep - (interim until June 30, 2020)

You can apply for and learn more about these roles and the committee structure here: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rE12OVLysAsN9QCOlJRnIP-4RbuxDVDN4hHN7SooqSE/edit?usp=sharing.

ILSSA Committee members can serve multiple terms and following June 2020, these roles will be elected/acclaimed by ISLS student members. 
We look forward to seeing many of you in Nashville, Tennessee, USA for ICLS 2020 where we will have our launch event (details forthcoming).

On behalf of the ILSSA,

Chris Ostrowdun - Interim co-chair (chris.ostrowdun@ucalgary.ca)
Sree Sankaranarayanan - Interim co-chair (sreecharan93@gmail.com)
Tugce Aldemir - Interim Communications (tfa5065@psu.edu)
Joey Huang - Interim Membership and Outreach (huang220@iu.edu)

Applications will be welcomed either by an individual for the position of sole Editor or by a team for the position of Co-Editors. JLS is a leading international journal and as such applications are encouraged from members of ISLS from any nation. The position provides the person(s) chosen, as well as the host institution(s), with international visibility in the learning sciences. Letters of intent to apply are due February 17, 2020, and full proposals are due March 15, 2020, as described in the call below. You can download a PDF version of the call at: http://www.isls.org/news.

1. Responsibilities of the Position of JLS Editor(s)

High Levels of Organization and Management

The successful applicant(s) should show evidence of being able to administer the flow of manuscripts submitted to JLS each year and to process them in an effective manner.

Vision

Editor(s) should:

• Have a clear vision and demonstrate promise for innovative and creative leadership to ensure that JLS will continue to be a premier journal. This vision should be consistent with the vision of ISLS (seehttps://www.isls.org/images/documents/ISLS_Vision_2009.pdf), and of JLS (see www.tandfonline.com/hlns).
• Be committed to a diversity of methods of research and ensure that the review process remains international so as to reflect multiple perspectives and diversity.
• Embrace the journal’s commitment to stimulating the international learning sciences community’s discourse through outreach and community engagement

Personal and Professional Qualifications

Editor(s) should:

• Have the ability to work with an Editorial Board and reviewers to maintain the high quality of manuscripts published in JLS.
• Have a strong commitment to maintaining the high quality of manuscripts that are published in the Journal.
• Possess skills in computer technology to work within the online submission and review system, ScholarOne Manuscripts, which is maintained by Taylor & Francis.

Presence in the Learning Sciences

In order to sustain JLS’s role as an official publication of ISLS, Editors should have a strong history of scholarship in the learning sciences, and presence in ISLS, as evidenced by qualities such as:

• Be active member(s) of ISLS with high visibility within the organization (e.g., attending and presenting at conferences regularly).
• Be active participant(s) in the JLS editorial process such as service in the JLS editorial leadership or editorial board, or extensive experience with reviewing.
• Be a respected scholar(s) in learning sciences, have a strong research record of publication in high-quality journals, and possess excellent writing and editing skills.

Journal Production and Responsibilities

• Producing 5 issues of JLS per year (per volume) comprising 880 journal pages annually.
• JLS’ editorial and review process is managed via an electronic submission and review system. Editors will need access to computer and network facilities that enable efficient and secure operation with this system (e.g., network firewall).
• Solicit and nominate ISLS members for the Editorial Board when required.
• Manage over 175 manuscripts each year.
• Conduct extensive correspondence with authors, reviewers, and the Taylor & Francis publication and production staff.

Institutional Commitments

The editorial role requires a significant time commitment, so many institutions support this role through reduced course load, provision of personnel hours for journal or other tasks, committee-assignment release, or similar means of support.
If possible, obtain a written commitment of support from your institution, in which the type of institutional support that will be provided during your term as Editor-in-Chief is specified.

Taylor & Francis Commitments

Financial support (currently US$28,000) is provided by Taylor & Francis to cover editorial expenses, which may include: support for staff such as a graduate student assistant and/or an administrative aide; computer equipment and software; and travel.
 

2. Term of Office

The Editor(s) have a 5-year term. In these five years, the Editor(s) first transition into the role, then edit the journal for four volumes (four years) and finally participate in a transition period assisting the subsequent new Editor(s). The incoming JLS Editor(s) will begin the initial transition during the Summer of 2020, with the assistance of the current Editors. The current Editor(s) will work with the incoming Editor(s) through June 2021. The incoming Editor(s) will be fully responsible for volumes 30 (in 2021), 31, 32, and 33 and will be listed on the cover for these volumes (outgoing editors appear on the cover as Past Editors for volume 30). Issue 1 of volume 30 is due to the publisher by early December, 2020. Responsibilities as Editor(s) including transition into the role and assisting subsequent editors will be from May 2020 through June 2025.
 

3. Application Process and Deadlines

The application process involves an initial letter of intent, and if invited to submit, a subsequent full proposal.
 

Letter of intent is due Monday, February 17, 2020.

The letter of intent should be sent to Dr. Joseph Polman, Chair of the JLS Editor Search Committee at JLS2020search@gmail.com. The letter of intent should:

• Be no longer than 1 page.
• Include full contact information including an email address.
   
• The letter serves as a way of briefly introducing yourself and your qualifications for an Editor position for one of the flagship journals of ISLS, and a premier journal for the learning sciences community. For example, you may wish to indicate prior editorial experience, leadership positions, and related activities in the learning sciences community. You may also briefly indicate your reasons for being interested in the position.
• (As attachment) Curriculum vitae for all Editor(s)

Letters of intent will be evaluated by the committee and invitations to submit a full proposal will be sent within two weeks. 

Full Application (proposal) is due Sunday March 15, 2020.

The complete proposal for JLS Editor should be submitted to Dr. Joseph Polman, Chair of the JLS Editor Search Committee at JLS2020search@gmail.com in a single Adobe (.pdf) file.
 
The full application should include, but is not limited to, the following:

1. Your vision for JLS (see below)
2. Proposed management structure and procedures (see below)
3. Curriculum vitae for all Editor(s)
4. Names of three persons who may serve as professional references
5. Institutional letter of support specifying any form(s) of support and duration.

If you are submitting a team application, please submit a joint application, but include letters of support and references for each team member.
 
In regards to vision and management structure applicants are requested to address, but are not limited, to the following:

A. Your vision for JLS

Each applicant should indicate very clearly the vision, innovation, and creative leadership that will be provided, thereby ensuring JLS continues to be a premier journal.

• What will you do to further enhance the reputation beyond the status it already enjoys?
• What is your view/vision of learning sciences research over the next five years?
• How will this view/vision affect how you plan to manage JLS?
• Are there aspects of JLS that you would wish to change and what new approaches are you considering that may move JLS forward? In the last few years, for instance, the journal initiated an annual best paper prize and annual reviewer recognition, and has developed stronger social media and web presences.
• Outreach and community engagement
• How will you pursue publishing a diversity of approaches to research, diversity in topics of research, and diversity in the authors published?
• How will you ensure that the review process remains international, so as to reflect multiple perspectives and diversity?

B. Management structure and procedures

• What management structure do you envisage for JLS?
• How would you propose using the budget provided by Taylor & Francis funding and any commitments provided by your own institutions, especially with regard to staffing and editorial assistance?
• How will you structure the relationship between the Editor(s) and Associate Editor(s)? Will you be the sole Editor and have support from Associate Editors?
• If you are applying as a team, how will you manage the coordination between the co-editors? What will be the specific logistics of review and editorial decisions?
• Please describe your proposed structure and procedures to minimize the time required for editorial review while maintaining the quality of the journal.
• Please specify the names, institutions, departments, and specialties of any new Associate Editors you could approach to replace existing Associate Editors as they reach the end of their terms.

4. Additional information

Interested persons are encouraged to discuss the nature of this position informally with the Chair of the JLS Editor Search Committee, Dr. Joseph Polman, the current editors (Dr. Susan Yoon and Dr. Jan van Aalst) or past journal editors. Inquiries can also be sent toJLS2020search@gmail.com.
 
The search committee will evaluate the applications, and make a recommendation to the ISLS board. The ISLS board will vote to ratify this recommendation. Applications will be evaluated based on criteria that correspond to the components of the application:

• Vision for JLS, proposed direction and foci, with respect to the future of learning sciences over the next five years; understanding of relevant cognate areas; commitment to publishing a diversity of styles of research with methodological pluralism
• Evidence of potential for creative leadership/innovation to realize the vision outlined above
• Evidence for ensuring that JLS is an international journal
• Editor(s)’ personal and professional qualifications
• Editor(s)’ scholarly and participation/service presence in LS/ISLS
• Quality of Editorial Team (Editors and Associate Editors) in terms of scholarship, publication record, writing and editing skills
• Management structure and procedures, including evidence / experience of working collaboratively / effectively with teams
• Institutional commitment for supporting the JLS editorial and production process

 
A decision on this search will be announced by ISLS in May, 2020.
 

Journal of the Learning Sciences 2021-2024 Editor Search Committee

Joe Polman, University of Colorado Boulder (Chair), USA
Ming Ming Chiu, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Kris Gutiérrez, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Victor Lee, Stanford University, USA
Susan McKenney, University of Twente, Netherlands
Jan van Aalst, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Susan Yoon, University of Pennsylvania, USA