Shlomo Berkovsky is a Senior Research Scientist and Research Team Leader at the TLI project (CSIRO – Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Tasmanian ICT Centre). The project aims to provide individual users and their families with a personalized dietary and health information to help them to maintain a healthier lifestyle.
His research interests include user modeling and personalization. In particular, he is interested in recommender systems, collaborative and content-based filtering, mediation of user models, ubiquitous user modeling, context-aware personalization, personalized content generation, and use of machine learning and data mining techniques in user modeling and personalization.
Before joining CSIRO, he was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Melbourne. He graduated at the University of Haifa. The topic of my PhD was “Mediation of user models for enhanced personalization in recommender systems”.

John Stamper is the Technical Director of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center DataShop.  He is also a member of the research faculty at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.  His primary areas of research include Educational Data Mining and Intelligent Tutoring Systems.  John received his PhD in Information Technology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, holds an MBA from the University of Cincinnati, and a BS in Systems Analysis from Miami University.  Prior to returning to academia, John spent over ten years in the software industry.  John is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and a Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA). John was the co-chair of the 2010 KDD Cup Competition, titled “Educational Data Mining Challenge,” which centered on improving assessment of student learning via data mining.

On the 1st day Shlomo Berkovsky will give a keynote on: 

Setting Up a Data Contest
Abstract: Research contests have attracted attention in many areas, mainly due to their potential to boost research on a specific problem. Contests also facilitate a fair and objective evaluation means, as all the participants share the same data and task. This talk will focus on the details of organizing a research contest. Initially, we will overview several past contests: KDD Cup competition series, Netflix prize competition, and CAMRa challenge on context-aware recommendations. Then, we will discuss the essential components of a successful contest: selection of appropriate tasks, data processing and preparation, publicity and attraction of participants, and the logistics of carrying out the contest. Finally, we will spark the discussion on the upcoming I-KNOW dataTEL contest on predicting the performance of students with an intelligent tutoring system.

On the 2nd day John Stamper will give his keynote on:

DataShop: An Educational Data Mining Platform for the Learning Science Community
In this talk I will discuss my vision of creating a true platform for conducting educational data mining research. The talk will focus on DataShop, part of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, which is an open data repository and set of associated visualization and analysis tools. DataShop has data from thousands of students deriving from interactions with on-line course materials and intelligent tutoring systems. The data is fine-grained, with student actions recorded roughly every 20 seconds, and it is longitudinal, spanning semester or yearlong courses. As of February 2011, over 245 datasets are stored including over 51 million student actions which equates to over 150,000 student hours of data. Most student actions are “coded” meaning they are not only graded as correct or incorrect, but are categorized in terms of the hypothesized competencies or knowledge components needed to perform that action. I plan to open the talk up as an interactive discussion in order
to answer questions related to some of the key issues we faced in developing an open data repository, including security, privacy, and data diversity.
Feel free to go to http://pslcdatashop.org to sign up for a free account and access DataShop prior to the workshop.

Based on the contributions of our participants we identified the following 4 most pressing topics of the workshop:
1. Topic: Evaluation of recommender systems in TEL
2. Topic: Data supported learning examples
3. Topic: Datasets from Learning Object Repositories and Web content
4. Topic: Privacy and data protection for dataTEL

The workshop schedule is available in the dataTEL space you can find it here: http://www.teleurope.eu/pg/file/read/76053/time-schedule-for-the-datatel-workshop-at-the-arv2011

We will tweet about the event and you are free to send you remarks by using the hashtag #datatel11.

Social support in Learning Networks: enhancing the organizational socialization of new teachers
A Learning Network is an online, social network that provides learning opportunities in a particular domain. A Learning Network is not hierarchically organised, has no set curriculum; it organises itself through the interactions that learners engage in with each other. Because of this self-organising character a Learning Network is eminently suited to support life-long learning. The research in this PhD project is two-fold. One aspect focuses on problems primary school teachers face during their induction period, when starting a new position. Another part investigates how a Learning Network, and in particular a social support system can accommodate the needs of these teachers. Here the focus is on finding the most suitable candidate and supporting the interaction process. In this project you will use innovative techniques and methods such as internet technology, datamining, information retrieval, recommender systems, social matching, portlets, web 2.0 and language technologies. The project is closely linked to other information retrieval projects and you will collaborate with other PhDs and senior researchers to apply information retrieval in Learning Networks.

Function-demands
To be appointed, the candidate must possess a Master’s degree in Computer Science (datamining, information retrieval) and a proven interest in educational sciences and educational technology. A Master’s degree in Educational Technology is acceptable only with sufficient software development skills. The candidate is flexible, able to work independently and is result driven. Preferably, the candidate has good communication skills (oral and written) in Dutch, fluency in English (oral and written) is required. The candidate should show interest in educational science research, have proven experience in carrying out experimental research and statistical analysis. The candidate is familiar with and has experience in internet technology, datamining, information retrieval, recommender systems, social software, web 2.0 and language technology. The candidate is an experienced Java developer. Experience with Liferay portlets is an advantage.

Terms of employment
Located at Heerlen 1 fte, 4 years (1 year probation with 3 year extension) The salary is € 2.042,- gross per month in the first year and is expected to increase to € 2.612,- in the fourth year, for a full time appointment, contingent on satisfactory performance. The Open Universiteit Nederland offers good secondary and flexible terms of employment with regard to training, mobility, part-time employment and paid parental leave.

Further information
For further information concerning this position please contact Ms dr. Francis Brouns, tel. 045-5762152, e-mail francis.brouns@ou.nl, dr. Hendrik Drachsler, tel. 045-5762218, e-mail hendrik.drachsler@ou.nl, or Ms dr. Jo Boon, Capacity manager, tel. 045-5762510, e-mail jo.boon@ou.nl. For additional information about Open University of the Netherlands, you can visit our Website: www.ou.nl. Visit celstec.org for further information about CELSTEC.

Application
Letters of application should be accompanied by a Curriculum Vitae. Please put the vacancy number both on the letter and the envelope and send the application to: Open Universiteit Nederland Financieel administratief servicecenter (FAS) Postbus 2960 6401 DL Heerlen Nederland E-mail: solliciteren@ou.nl

Closing Date
15.01.2011

Organization
The Open Universiteit Nederland  is a university for lifelong learning. Our education is characterised by openness, flexibility and quality. In our courses and scientific programmes (Bachelor and Master) we apply the most recent technologies and educational insights. The research that is carried out in our academic departments is intertwined with our courses, ensuring a connection between learning content and the newest educational and technological developments. The university has an interdepartmental research institute, NeLLL (Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning). This institute bundles all research into lifelong learning. The Open University has 32.000 students and about 700 employees. The main campus is in Heerlen. Spread over the Netherlands there are 12 study centres and 3 support centres. There are also 6 study centres in Flanders.

Department
The Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies (CELSTEC) develops, tests and shares new knowledge, technologies and services to enhance formal, informal and non-formal learning and to integrate these types of learning in different contexts (e.g., at home, at work). The themes of CELSTEC are related to Learning and Cognition, Learning Networks and Learning Media. CELSTEC is a young department with about 100 employees. The Learning Networks programme comprises two themes: professional development in Learning Networks and the emergence and maintenance of Learning Networks. The programme has adopted a design-based approach, tending to both theory formation and the development of tools and guidelines. NeLLL is the interdepartmental research institute of the university in which interdisciplinary research is carried out that focuses on all aspects of life-long-learning. All faculties, and CELSTEC participate in NeLLL.

Workshop: dataTEL- Data Sets for Technology Enhanced Learning
Date: March 30th to March 31st, 2011
Location: Ski resort La Clusaz in the French Alps, Massif des Aravis
Funding: Food and lodging for 3 nights for 10 selected participants
Submissions: For being funded, please send extended abstracts to
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=datatel2011
Deadline for submissions: October 25th, 2010
Details: PDF
************************************************

SCOPE
Personalisation and analysis of user interaction data is a key approach to overcome the plethora of information in the knowledge society. It is expected that personalised learning has the potential to reduce delivery costs, to create more effective learning environments and experiences, to accelerate study time, and to increase collaboration between learners. Recommender systems and information filtering are some of the promising technologies to support people in finding most suitable information and peer learners. They are increasingly applied in Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) in various European projects in order to personalise learning content and connect suitable peer learners according to their context (e.g., individual needs, preferences, and learning goals).
 
In the world of consumer recommender systems, it is a common practise to use different data sets as benchmarks to evaluate new recommender systems algorithms (MovieLens, Book-Crossing, EachMovie data set). In TEL, there are no standardised data sets publicly available, so that the outcomes of different recommender systems within TEL are hardly comparable.
 
So far, no universally valid knowledge exists on algorithm that can be successfully applied in a certain learning setting. Having such data sets could be a first major step towards a theory of personalisation within TEL that can be based on empirical experiments with verifiable and valid results.
 
Therefore, the objective of this workshop is to explore suitable data sets for TEL – with a specific focus on recommender and information filtering systems that can take advantage of these data sets. In this context, new challenges emerge like unclear legal protection rights and privacy issues, suitable policies and formats to share data, required pre-processing procedures and rules to create sharable data sets, common evaluation criteria for recommender systems in TEL and how a data set driven future in TEL could look like.
 
Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:
-            publicly available data sets for educational systems
-            dealing with legal protection rights towards data sets on a European level
-            privacy preservation for educational data sets
-            methods of effective anonymisation of educational data sets
-            management and pre-processing procedures for educational data sets
-            future scenarios for educational data sets
-            impact of educational data sets for learners and teachers
-            mash-ups based on educational data sets
-            recommender approaches that are based on educational data
-            evaluation methodologies and metrics for educational recommender systems
 
SUBMISSIONS
Authors are invited to submit original unpublished research as papers (4-8 pages). Demonstrations and Hands-on sessions are explicitly encouraged. All submitted papers will be peer-reviewed by at least three members of the program committee for originality, significance, clarity, and quality. Re-worked versions of accepted submissions will be published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects (IJELLO). In addition, the authors are asked to contribute short summaries of their submissions to the dataTEL group space at TELeurope to encourage early information sharing and discussion also with third persons.
 
Submission will be available through the EasyChair submission system:
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=datatel2011
All questions and submissions should be sent to: dataForTEL@gmail.com
 
WORKSHOP STRUCTURE
Based on workshop submissions, the organisers will identify 4 most pressing research challenges. For each of the challenges, we will allow around 2 hours discussion, started off through about two short submission presentations or keynotes. The final 2 hours of the last workshop day will be utilised to bring the results of the individual discussions together and to chart a vision of the future of TEL amplified by publicly available data sets.
 
FUNDING
Participants pay for their own travel and lodging. But we are able to fund food and lodging for 3
nights as well as the community event on Tuesday, March 29th for 10 participants. Please
indicate your funding needs with your submission.

ORGANIZERS
Katrien Verbert (K.U.Leuven, BE)
Riina Vuorikari (European Schoolnet, BE)
Stefanie Lindstaedt (KnowCenter, AT)
Martin Wolpers (Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology, DE)
Miguel-Angel Sicilia (University of Alcalá, ES)
Nikos Manouselis (Greek Research and Technology Network, GR),
Hendrik Drachsler (Open University of the Netherlands, NL)

IMPORTANT DATES
Submission of extended abstract (1000-2000 words): October 25th, 2010
Notification of acceptance of abstracts: November 15th, 2010
Submission of papers: December 17th, 2011
Workshop: March 30th to March 31st, 2011
 
IMPORTANT WEBSITES
dataTEL group space: http://www.teleurope.eu/pg/groups/9405/datatel/
The Alpine Rendez-Vous: http://www.stellarnet.eu/programme/wp3/rendez-vous
La Clusaz: http://www.laclusaz.com/hiver-winter10/index.php?lang=_uk
 
VENUE DETAILS
The second STELLAR Alpine Rendez-Vous (ARV) will take place in the French Alps in the Massif des Arravis at a beautiful ski resort called La Clusaz (hotel Alpen Roc).There will be some free time in the afternoons for TEL community building during winter activities. Funding for lodging and food will be available for a limited number of participants.
 
THE ALPINE RENDEZ-VOUS
This 2011 STELLAR Alpine Rendez-Vous is the second event of a series. It is organized and funded by STELLAR, a European network of excellence on learning technologies (http://www.stellarnet.eu/). The ARV is not a standard conference, but a set of independent workshops located at the same time in the same hotel. Four workshops run in parallel during the first part of the week and four during the second part. It's called "Rendez-Vous" because shared events are organized in the middle of the week (Tuesday evening) and because we set up breaks and meals in a way that promotes informal encounters between participants from the different workshops. Finally, it is called "Alpine" because it gathers scientists in the Alps, away from their workplace routines, in a place where snow is used as “social facilitator."

Special track on 'Tools and Resources for Lifelong Learning' (TORELL)

Personal Environments, Widgets and Connectors to support lifelong learning and open education
http://bit.ly/caNevJ

At the International Conference on Interactive Computer Aided Learning,

Hasselt, Belgium, 15 September - 17 September 2010
http://www.icl-conference.org/icl2010/

*************************************************************

SCOPE OF THE SPECIAL TRACK

The special track 'Tools and resources for Lifelong Learning (TORELL) - Personal Environments, Widgets and Connectors to support learning and open education' takes place at the 'International Conference on Interactive Computer Aided Learning 2010 (ICL)' in Hasselt, Belgium.

For the interdisciplinary workshop TORELL we ask for contributions on web services, connectors and other techniques that can be offered through widgets to support lifelong learning and open education. Internet users increasingly take advantage of personal environments where they can integrate various web services such as YouTube, Delicious, or RSS feeds. Personal environments like iGoogle, Netvibes or Pageflakes act like a container where users can add their most favorite Web2.0 services, rather than browsing to each of them separately. A personal environment presents the Web2.0 services in a condensed view so that the users do not have to browse to each of the services separately. Web services can easily be plugged into the personal environment by using a widget standard. A widget - also called gadget, badge, module, webjit, capsule, snippet, app, portlet, mini or flake - can have many shapes and sizes and runs on different platforms as web or desktop widgets. Especially, web widgets have a broad application area; they can be applied in social networking software like Facebook and LinkedIn but also in Elgg, Content Management Systems like Drupal, and blogging software like Wordpress. Widgets often utilize technologies form areas like text mining, semantic web, ontologies, natural language processing, and other data mining techniques. They support the exchange of ideas, exploration and search of content, annotation or connection of learners and open educational resources (OER). They are suitable to train specific competences, visualize domain knowledge, or combine information from different information providers in a single widget.

TOPICS

* Widgets that are based on text mining, semantic web, ontologies, natural language processing or other data mining techniques
* Widgets or web services that support communities of learners (e.g. OER communities)
* Best practices and working examples with educational widgets
* Conceptual studies on developing educational widgets
* Widgets for formal or non-formal learning
* Widgets for knowledge sharing in cooperate environments
* Social Media applications and OER
* Educational Mashups with OER
* New technologies and tools for widget development
* Recommender systems for widgets
* Widgets for mobile devices
* Current and future developments concerning technology and pedagogy for widgets
* Remote authoring scenarios
* Folksonomies and Social Metadata
* Demonstration of prototypes

IMPORTANT DATES

Submission deadline: 30 June 2010
Notification of acceptance: 21 July 2010
Camera-ready paper submission: 30 August 2010
ICL 2010 conference: 15-17 September 2010

SUBMISSIONS

The Workshop accepts a variety of submission types:

* Full papers: 8 pages
* Short papers: 4 pages
* System/service demos: 2 pages

Papers should be original and not previously submitted to other venues. Submission is available through the submission system of the ICL conference https://www.conftool.com/icl-conference/.

PUBLICATION

All accepted submissions will be published in the ICL2010 proceedings (with ISBN). Outstanding contributions have the opportunity to be published in a Special Issue in an international journal such as the International Journal of Emerging Technology (iJET).

CO-CHAIRS

* Hendrik Drachsler, Open Universiteit Nederland, The Netherlands (Hendrik.Drachsler@ou.nl)
* Marco Kalz, Open Universiteit Nederland, The Netherlands (marco.kalz@ou.nl)
* Wolfgang Greller, Open Universiteit Nederland, The Netherlands (wolfgang.greller@ou.nl)
* Fridolin Wild, The Open University, UK (f.wild@open.ac.uk)
* Uta Schwertel, IMC AG, Germany (uta.schwertel@im-c.de)
* Jan Pawlowski, University of Jyväskylä, Finnland (jan.pawlowski@jyu.fi)

STEERING COMMITTEE

* Elisabetta Parodi (Giunti Labs)
* Katja Niemann (Fraunhofer FIT)
* Alexander Mikroyannidis (OUUK)
* Philippe Dessus (Université Pierre Mendès)
* Bernhard Hoisl (Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration)
* Katrina Maxwell (Insead)
* Stefan Trausan-Matu (Politechnica University of Bucharest)
* Rob Nadolski (OUNL)

ABOUT ICL 2010

The 13th International Conference on Interactive Computer aided Learning has a special focus on Academic and Corporate E-Learning in a Global Context It will take place in Hasselt, Belgium, September 15 - 17, 2010. (www.icl-conference.org). This interdisciplinary conference aims to focus on the exchange of relevant trends and research results as well as the presentation of practical experiences in interactive computer aided learning, in higher education and in corporate context, and seen in a global context.

The conference will be organized by the University of Hasselt, Belgium in cooperation with:

* IEEE Education Society
* International E-Learning Association (IELA)
* European Learning Industry Group (ELIG)
* European Distance and E-learning Network (EDEN)
* International Society of Engineering Education (IGIP)
* International Association of Online Engineering (IAOE)
* European Institute of E-Learning (EifEL)
* European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU)

Topics of Interest

* Web based learning (WBL)
* Adaptive and intuitive environments
* Responsive environments
* Semantic metadata for e-learning
* Mobile learning environments and applications
* Computer aided language learning incorporating AI techniques (ICALL)
* Platforms and authoring tools
* Educational MashUps
* Knowledge management and learning
* Educational Virtual Environments
* Collaborative learning
* Applications of the Semantic Web
* E-Portfolios
* Standards and styleguides
* Remote and virtual laboratories
* Multimedia applications and virtual reality
* Pedagogical and psychological issues
* Evaluation and outcomes assessment
* New learning models and applications
* Cost-effectiveness and others

*************************************************************

dataTEL Challenge on Sharing datasets for Technology-Enhanced Learning
Barcelona, Spain, 30 September 2010

Organised jointly by:
- dataTEL Theme Team of STELLAR Network of Excellence
- Joint Workshop on Recommender Systems for Technology-Enhanced Learning (RecSysTEL)
- 5th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2010)

http://adenu.ia.uned.es/workshops/recsystel2010/datatel.htm
*************************************************************

AIM & TOPICS

In the world of recommender systems, it is a common practice to use public available
datasets from different application environments (e.g. MovieLens, Book-Crossing, or EachMovie)
in order to evaluate recommendation algorithms. These datasets are used as benchmarks
to develop new recommendation algorithms and compare them to other algorithms in given settings.
In such datasets, a representation of implicit or explicit feedback from the users
regarding the candidate items is stored, in order to allow the recommender system
to produce a recommendation. This feedback can be in several forms.
For example, in the case of collaborative filtering systems it can be ratings or votes
(i.e. if an item has been viewed or bookmarked). In the case of content-based recommenders,
it can be product reviews or simple tags (keywords) that users provide for items.
Additional information is also required such a unique way to identify who provides
this feedback (user ID) and upon which item (item ID). The user-rating matrix used
in collaborative filtering systems is a well-known example.

Although recommender systems are increasingly applied in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL),
it is still an application area that lacks such publicly available and interoperable datasets.
So although there is a lot of research conducted on recommender systems in TEL, they lack
datasets that would allow the experimental evaluation of the performance of different
recommendation algorithms using comparable, interoperable, and reusable datasets. This
leads to awkward experimentation and testing such as using datasets from movies in order
to evaluate educational recommendation algorithms.

To this end, the dataTEL Theme Team of the STELLAR Network of Excellence
(http://www.teleurope.eu/pg/groups/9405/datatel/) has launched the first
dataTEL Challenge: a call for TEL datasets that invites research groups to submit
existing datasets from TEL applications that can be used as input for TEL recommender systems.

A special dataTEL Cafe event will take place during the RecSysTEL Workshop 2010 in Barcelona,
to discuss about such issues and facilitate dataset sharing in this community. A best dataTEL
award will also be given to a TEL dataset that will be selected from a specially appointed
Scientific Committee.

IMPORTANT DATES

* 1 July 2010: Submissions
* 16 July 2010: Notifications
* 1 August 2010: Camera-ready
* 30 September 2010: dataTEL Cafe event during RecSysTEL workshop and before the ECTEL conference dinner

SUBMISSIONS

The dataTEL Challenge submissions should include:
* TEL dataset file(s): preferably in CSV or XML format
* TEL dataset description: 2 pages formatted according to Springer LNCS
(http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0)

The dataset files(s) should be made available through some URL (e.g. FTP location).
The 2-page description should be submitted through the EasyChair submission system:
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=datatel2010

If you haven't an EasyChair account yet, you'll be asked to create it before you can access the dataTEL page.

For more information on content and formatting of the dataset and the 2-page description, see:
http://adenu.ia.uned.es/workshops/recsystel2010/datatel.htm

STEERING COMMITTEE

* Lora Aroyo, Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
* Toine Bogers, Royal School of Library Information Science, Denmark
* Ernesto De Luca, Technical University of Berlin, Germany
* Jon Dron, Athabasca University, Canada
* Hannes Ebner, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden
* Sandy El Helou, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
* Alexander Ferlfernig, Technical University of Graz, Austria
* Kai Hoever, TU Darmstadt, Germany
* Joris Klerkx, KU Leuven, Belgium
* Stephanie Lindstaedt, Know Center, Austria
* Nikos Manouselis, Greek Research & Technology Network, Greece
* Jad Najjar, WU Vienna, Austria
* Nikos Palavitsinis, Greek Research & Technology Network, Greece
* Alan Said, Technical University of Berlin, Germany
* Elena Shulman, European Schoolnet, Belgium
* Stefan Ternier, Open University of the Netherlands, The Netherlands
* Michael Totschnig, WU Vienna, Austria
* Frans Van Assche, ARIADNE Foundation, Belgium
* Katrien Verbert, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
* Riina Vuorikari, European Schoolnet, Belgium
* Martin Wolpers, FIT Fraunhofer, Germany

CO-CHAIRS

* Hendrik Drachsler, Open Universiteit Nederlands, The Netherlands
* David Massart, European Schoolnet, Belgium

Feel free to spread the word using the 'dataTEL' tag!

ABOUT RecSysTEL AND EC-TEL 2010

The RecSysTEL Workshop aims to bring together researchers and
practitioners that are working on topics related to the design,
development and testing of recommender systems in educational
settings as well as present the current status of research in this
area. Overall, it aims to outline the rich potential
of TEL as an application area for recommender systems, as well as
expose participants to the challenges of developing such systems
in a TEL context.
See http://adenu.ia.uned.es/workshops/recsystel2010/.

The 5th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2010)
brings together technological developments, learning models, and implementations
of new and innovative approaches to training and education. The conference
traditionally explores how the synergy of multiple disciplines
can provide new, more effective and more especially more sustainable,
technology-enhanced learning solutions to learning problems.
See http://www.ectel2010.org.

*************************************************************

FIRST CALL FOR TEL DATASETS

dataTEL Cafe event for sharing datasets for Technology-Enhanced Learning
Barcelona, Spain, 29 September 2010
Organised jointly by the Workshop on Recommender Systems for Technology-Enhanced Learning (RecSysTEL)  and the dataTEL Theme Team.

at the 4th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys 2010)
and the 5th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2010)

Detailed information at:

http://www.teleurope.eu/pg/groups/9405/dataTEL
http://adenu.ia.uned.es/workshops/recsystel2010

*************************************************************

AIM & TOPICS

Recommender systems are increasingly applied in TEL research to personalise learning content and to find suitable peer learners according to their individual needs, preferences and learning goals. In the world of commercial recommender systems, it is a common practice to use public available datasets with specific characteristics (e.g. MovieLens, Book-Crossing, or the EachMovie dataset) to evaluate recommender system algorithms. These datasets are used as benchmarks to develop new recommendation algorithms and compare their effects to other algorithms in a standardised way. The representation of implicit or explicit feedback from users is required to produce suitable recommendations. This feedback can be in several forms. For example, in the case of collaborative filtering systems it can be ratings or votes (i.e. if an item has been viewed or bookmarked). In the case of content-based recommenders, it can be textual reviews or simple tags (keywords) that users provide for items. In addition, information is rehired to identify who provided feedback (user ID) and upon which item (item ID). The user-rating matrix used in collaborative filtering systems is a well-known example.

Although there is a lot of research conducted on recommender systems in TEL, they lack standardised ways to evaluate the performance of different recommendation systems using standardised (interoperable and reusable) datasets. At the momenten, there is not one dataset publicly available neither for formal learning nor for non-formal learning settings. Thus, it is not possible yet for TEL recommender systems' researchers to apply and benchmark their algorithms on existing, public datasets.

The dataTEL Theme Team addresses these challenges by discussing the topic on various scientific events. We aim to launch the first TEL dataset competition in 2011 where researchers can compete in developing the first and most effective TEL recommender systems for available TEL datasets. For this aim we invite relevant groups to submit their existing datasets from TEL applications (e.g. datasets of ratings, tags, reviews, etc.) that can be used as input for TEL recommender systems.

The most suitable datasets will be announced at the dataTEL Cafe event at the EC-TEL conference 2010 in Barcelona. The winner of the dataTEL challenge will receive a best TEL dataset award!

IMPORTANT DATES

• 30 June 2010: Submissions
• 23 July 2010: Notifications
• 1 August 2010: Camera-ready
• 29 September 2010: dataTEL Cafe at RecSysTEL workshop in Barcelona.

SUBMISSIONS
* two paper description: 2 pages and dataset file (specs/format to be announced soon)

Submission will be available through the EasyChair submission system:
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=recsystel2010

If you haven't an EasyChair account yet, you'll be asked to create it before you can access the RecSysTEL'10 page.

STEERING COMMITTEE

to be announced soon.

CO-CHAIRS

* Hendrik Drachsler, Open Universiteit Nederlands, The Netherlands
* Nikos Manouselis, Greek Research & Technology Network, Greece
* Riina Vuorikari, European Schoolnet, Belgium
* Katrien Verbert, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
* Stephanie Lindstaedt, Know Center, Austria
* Martin Wolpers, FIT Fraunhofer, Germany

Feel free to spread the word using the 'dataTEL' tag!

ABOUT RecSys 2010 AND EC-TEL 2010

The 4th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys 2010) is  the premier annual event on research and applications of recommender technologies. It will promote a close interaction among practitioners and researchers, reaching a wider range of participants including those from Europe and Asia. See http://recsys.acm.org/2010/ for details.

The 5th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2010) brings together technological developments, learning models, and implementations of new and innovative approaches to training and education. The conference traditionally explores how the synergy of multiple disciplines can provide new, more effective and more especially more sustainable, technology-enhanced learning solutions to learning problems. See http://www.ectel2010.org for details.
*************************************************************

Special track on 'Tools and resources for Lifelong Learning' (TORELL)
Personal Environments, Widgets and Connectors to support lifelong
learning and open education
http://bit.ly/caNevJ

At the International Conference on Interactive Computer Aided Learning,
Hasselt, Belgium, 15 September - 17 September 2010
http://www.icl-conference.org/icl2010/

*************************************************************

SCOPE OF THE SPECIAL TRACK

The special track 'Tools and resources for Lifelong Learning (TORELL) - Personal Environments, Widgets and Connectors to support learning and open education' takes place at the 'International Conference on Interactive Computer Aided Learning 2010 (ICL)' in Hasselt, Belgium.

For the interdisciplinary workshop TORELL we ask for contributions on web services, connectors and other techniques that can be offered through widgets to support lifelong learning and open education. Internet users increasingly take advantage of personal environments where they can integrate various web services such as YouTube, Delicious, or RSS feeds. Personal environments like iGoogle, Netvibes or Pageflakes act like a container where users can add their most favorite Web2.0 services, rather than browsing to each of them separately. A personal environment presents the Web2.0 services in a condensed view so that the users do not have to browse to each of the services separately. Web services can easily be plugged into the personal environment by using a widget standard. A widget - also called gadget, badge, module, webjit, capsule, snippet, app, portlet, mini or flake - can have many shapes and sizes and runs on different platforms as web or desktop widgets. Especially, web widgets have a broad application area; they can be applied in social networking software like Facebook and LinkedIn but also in Elgg, Content Management Systems like Drupal, and blogging software like Wordpress. Widgets often utilize technologies form areas like text mining, semantic web, ontologies, natural language processing, and other data mining techniques. They support the exchange of ideas, exploration and search of content, annotation or connection of learners and open educational resources (OER). They are suitable to train specific competences, visualize  domain knowledge, or combine information from different information providers in a single widget.

TOPICS

* Widgets that are based on text mining, semantic web, ontologies, natural language processing or other data mining techniques
* Widgets or web services that support communities of learners (e.g. OER communities)
* Best practices and working examples with educational widgets
* Conceptual studies on developing educational widgets
* Widgets for formal or non-formal learning
* Widgets for knowledge sharing in cooperate environments
* Social Media applications and OER
* Educational Mashups with OER
* New technologies and tools for widget development
* Recommender systems for widgets
* Widgets for mobile devices
* Current and future developments concerning technology and pedagogy for widgets
* Remote authoring scenarios
* Folksonomies and Social Metadata
* Demonstration of prototypes

IMPORTANT DATES

Submission deadline: 30 June 2010
Notification of acceptance: 21 July 2010
Camera-ready paper submission: 30 August 2010
ICL 2010 conference: 15-17 September 2010

SUBMISSIONS

The Workshop accepts a variety of submission types:

* Full papers: 8 pages
* Short papers: 4 pages
* System/service demos: 2 pages

Papers should be original and not previously submitted to other venues. Submission is available through the submission system of the ICL conference https://www.conftool.com/icl-conference/.

PUBLICATION

All accepted submissions will be published in the ICL2010 proceedings (with ISBN). Outstanding contributions have the opportunity to be published in a Special Issue in an international journal such as the International Journal of Emerging Technology (iJET).

CO-CHAIRS

* Hendrik Drachsler, Open Universiteit Nederland, The Netherlands (Hendrik.Drachsler@ou.nl)
* Marco Kalz, Open Universiteit Nederland, The Netherlands (marco.kalz@ou.nl)
* Wolfgang Greller, Open Universiteit Nederland, The Netherlands (wolfgang.greller@ou.nl)
* Fridolin Wild, The Open University, UK (f.wild@open.ac.uk)
* Uta Schwertel, IMC AG, Germany (uta.schwertel@im-c.de)
* Jan Pawlowski, University of Jyväskylä, Finnland (jan.pawlowski@jyu.fi)

STEERING COMMITTEE

* Elisabetta Parodi (Giunti Labs)
* Katja Niemann (Fraunhofer FIT)
* Alexander Mikroyannidis (OUUK)
* Philippe Dessus (Université Pierre Mendès)
* Bernhard Hoisl (Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration)
* Katrina Maxwell (Insead)
* Stefan Trausan-Matu (Politechnica University of Bucharest)
* Rob Nadolski (OUNL)

ABOUT ICL 2010

The 13th International Conference on Interactive Computer aided Learning has a special focus on Academic and Corporate E-Learning in a Global Context It will take place in Hasselt, Belgium, September 15 - 17, 2010. (www.icl-conference.org)

This interdisciplinary conference aims to focus on the exchange of relevant trends and research results as well as the presentation of practical experiences in interactive computer aided learning, in higher education and in corporate context, and seen in a global context.

The conference will be organized by the University of Hasselt, Belgium in cooperation with:
* IEEE Education Society
* International E-Learning Association (IELA)
* European Learning Industry Group (ELIG)
* European Distance and E-learning Network (EDEN)
* International Society of Engineering Education (IGIP)
* International Association of Online Engineering (IAOE)
* European Institute of E-Learning (EifEL)
* European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU)

Topics of Interest

* Web based learning (WBL)
* Adaptive and intuitive environments
* Responsive environments
* Semantic metadata for e-learning
* Mobile learning environments and applications
* Computer aided language learning incorporating AI techniques (ICALL)
* Platforms and authoring tools
* Educational MashUps
* Knowledge management and learning
* Educational Virtual Environments
* Collaborative learning
* Applications of the Semantic Web
* E-Portfolios
* Standards and styleguides
* Remote and virtual laboratories
* Multimedia applications and virtual reality
* Pedagogical and psychological issues
* Evaluation and outcomes assessment
* New learning models and applications
* Cost-effectiveness and others

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Workshop on Recommender Systems for Technology Enhanced Learning (RecSysTEL)
Barcelona, Spain, 29-30 September 2010

Organised jointly by
- 4th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys 2010)
- 5th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2010)

http://adenu.ia.uned.es/workshops/recsystel2010/

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AIM & TOPICS

Technology enhanced learning (TEL) aims to design, develop and test socio-technical innovations
that will support and enhance learning practices of both individuals and organisations.
It is an application domain that generally addresses all types of technology research & development
aiming to support of teaching and learning activities. Information retrieval is a pivotal activity in TEL,
and the deployment of recommender systems has attracted increased interest during the past years.

Recommendation methods, techniques and systems open an interesting new approach
to facilitate and support learning and teaching. There are plenty a resource available on the Web,
both in terms of digital learning content and people resources (e.g. other learners, experts, tutors)
that can be used to facilitate teaching and learning tasks. The challenge is to develop, deploy
and evaluate systems that provide learners and teachers with meaningful guidance in order to
help identify suitable learning resources from a potentially overwhelming variety of choices.

The aim of the Workshop is to bring together researchers and practitioners that are working on
topics related to the design, development and testing of recommender systems in educational settings
as well as present the current status of research in this area and create cross-disciplinary liaisons
between the RecSys and EC-TEL communities. Overall, it aims to outline the rich potential of TEL
as an application area for recommender systems, as well as expose participants to the challenges
of developing such systems in a TEL context.

Topics include but are not limited to:

* User tasks to be supported by recommender systems in TEL
* Focus of recommendation in TEL
* Requirements for the deployment of TEL recommender systems
* Publicly available data sets for TEL recommender systems
* Recommendation algorithms and systems for TEL
* Transfer of successful algorithms and systems from other application areas
* Evaluation criteria and methods for TEL recommender systems
* Development of TEL related data sets

IMPORTANT DATES

20 June 2010: Submissions
16 July 2010: Notifications
1 August 2010: Camera-ready of accepted papers
29-30 September 2010: RecSysTEL Workshop in Barcelona

SUBMISSIONS

The Workshop accepts a variety of submission types:
* Full papers: 12 pages
* Short papers: 6 pages
* System/service demos: 2 pages
* TEL Data sets: 2 pages and data set file (specs/format to be announced soon)

PUBLICATION

Workshop proceedings will be published in a seperate volume by a publisher
that will be announced soon.

In addition, authors of best full papers will be invited to submit a revised version
of their manuscripts for a Special Issue in a prestigious international journal  such as the IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies.

CO-CHAIRS
* Nikos Manouselis, Greek Research & Technology Network (Greece)
* Hendrik Drachsler, Open Universiteit Nederlands (The Netherlands)
* Katrien Verbert, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
* Olga C. Santos, aDeNu - Spanish National University for Distance Education (Spain)

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