The ISLS Network of Academic Programs in the Learning Sciences (NAPLeS) is a network of Ph.D. and master‘s programs in the Learning Sciences. NAPLeS is part of the educational mission of the International Society of the Learning Sciences.

The mission of NAPLeS is to foster high quality Learning Sciences programs internationally through several mechanisms that support teaching and learning:

• Examples of syllabi used in existing Learning Sciences programs

• Resources prepared by renowned learning scientists on specific topics in the Learning Sciences

• Visiting scholarships for students to Learning Sciences programs other than their own

• International supervision of doctoral research

An international group of 18 professors, post-docs, and PhD students has been working on the NAPLeS mechanisms and activities stated above. Members of this NAPLeS preparation group are: Debbie Fields, Frank Fischer, Susan Goldman, Kim Gomez, Stian Håklev, Daniel Hickey, Cindy Hmelo-Silver, Manu Kapur, Eleni Kyza, Marcia Linn, Kristine Lund, Jim Pellegrino, Sadhana Puntambekar, Peter Reimann, Jim Slotta, Freydis Vogel, Susan Yoon, Baohui Zhang.

The network was officially founded at the 2012 ICLS meeting where it started with members from 12 institutions. Since then, many new programs have joined NAPLeS, and we are happy to announce that currently NAPLeS has more than 30 member programs in 26 different universities all over the world.

On September 30, we launched the NAPLeS webinar series. The webinar series offers webinars conducted in live videoconferences which are scheduled to take place between September 30, 2013 and May 6, 2014.

The editors of this series are Susan Goldman, Cindy Hmelo-Silver, Peter Reiman and Frank Fischer. The team coordinating the webinars includes this group of editors as well as Eleni Kyza, Daniel Hickey, and Kim Gomez. Currently 49 webinars are scheduled with some of the most influential and innovative learning scientists.

The live webinars are open for NAPLeS members and recordings are posted afterwards on the NAPLeS webpages publicly available.

The following webinars have already been recorded:

Introduction Session: A short history of the Learning Sciences
by Chris Hoadley

http://isls-naples.psy.lmu.de/intro/all-webinars/hoadley_video/index.html

Introduction Session: Evolution of Research on CSCL
by Pierre Dillenbourg

http://isls-naples.psy.lmu.de/intro/all-webinars/dillenbourg_video/index.html

Teacher Learning and Technology
by Mimi Recker

http://isls-naples.psy.lmu.de/intro/all-webinars/recker_all/index.html

Augmented reality in the Learning Sciences
by Susan Yoon and Eric Klopfer

http://isls-naples.psy.lmu.de/intro/all-webinars/yoon_klopfer_video/index.html

Neurocognitive foundations for the Learning Sciencesby Sashank Varma

http://isls-naples.psy.lmu.de/intro/all-webinars/varma_video/index.html

Upcoming webinars scheduled in November are:

Introduction Sessions: Introduction to CSCL Research                       by Dan Suthers

Date: Tuesday, November 5th, 8:00 am UTC

Argumentation and learning in CSCL                                                      by Baruch Schwarz

Date: Tuesday, November 12th, 9:00 am UTC

Cyberlearing and CSCL                                                                             

 by Jeremy Roschelle

Date: Thursday, November 14th, 7:00 pm UTC

Orchestrating CSCL                                                                                       by Pierre Dillenbourg

Date: Monday, November 25th, 4:00 pm UTC

Multiple representations and multimedia learning                                    by Shaaron Ainsworth

Date: Friday, November 29th, 3:00 pm UTC

Information about further upcoming webinars and how to participate are posted on the NAPLeS webpages: http://naples.isls.org

If you would like to participate in the webinars, or if you have any questions about the webinar series please write an email to [email protected]

If you would like to join NAPLeS you need

• a running or upcoming Ph.D. or Master´s degree program in the area of the Learning Sciences

• at least 3 persons associated with the program need to be ISLS members

You may submit your application to join NAPLeS with your Learning Sciences program to [email protected]

Further information about NAPLeS can be found on the webpages: http://isls-naples.psy.lmu.de/

Authors: Freydis Vogel and Frank Fischer