We invite you to submit abstracts for papers and posters for the fourth Learning With MOOCS conference to be held at the University of Texas, Austin, in Austin Texas on October 8-10, 2017.

LWMOOCS 4: Developing and Advancing Careers with MOOCs

Overview
Though initial visions of MOOCs as free learning resources for the masses have not yet been the reality, millions of learners around the world are using MOOCs to support professional development and career advancement. This activity represents an important shift from the top-down model of university degrees to a learner-generated, micro-credentialing “bottom-up” model. How will the research community respond to help ensure that technology-mediated instruction at scale continues to be more learner-focused? What work can we initiate or surface that allows for underserved learners to benefit from more accessible opportunities for career advancement? 
The growth of digital learning, both in terms of research and practice, is part of a broader societal transition to a digital and data-driven world. Reports of future mass upheaval in employment driven by artificial intelligence are starting to cause alarm. Today, cognitive technologies can learn and in some cases outperform humans. While we cannot predict the exact nature of these technological disruptions, we can see foresee the growing need for continuing education in order for humans to remain competitive in the workforce. Against  this backdrop, the theme and guiding focus for LWMOOC4 is:
How can MOOCs be used for career advancement, especially for the under-employed? How can we better support career advancement with MOOCs?
As the influence of MOOCs and digital learning in general grow, it’s time to review many of the assumptions that researchers and practitioners currently hold. Are we creating the type of knowledge infrastructure through digital learning that will enable a generation of creative, innovative, honest, considerate, socially responsible, motivated, and full-filled learners? Or are we meeting AI in the middle by dumbing down and automating our learning needs to such a degree that the machines ought to take over?

Submission Guidelines

Please submit an abstract of a full paper or poster. All papers and posters must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. We welcome abstracts of full papers and posters on the topics below. All should be 500 words maximum (excluding the reference list). Please submit your abstract here: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=lwmocc2017

List of Topics

We call for submissions to LWMOOC4 from a diversity of disciplines and topics (see details below). Submissions must be related to research, practice, and theory related to MOOCs that build on the main theme of the conference and highlight the strength of the MOOC research community, with important input from the other related research domains. Specific topics, though not limited to these, include:

Topics:

• MOOCs used officially and unofficially in the workforce

• Problem-based learning and authentic/contextual learning environments

• Social and affective computing

• The role of specific human constructs, such as imagination, joy, and amazement, in MOOCs

• New pedagogical processes with MOOCs, particularly around social and peer pedagogies

• New and emerging models of instructional design, especially student-centered design approaches

• Difference in pedagogies between work environments and school environments. Do they exist? Should they?

• Learning analytics and MOOCs

• Learning sciences and new research models based on digital learning and MOOCs

• Use of learner data outside university domain (i.e. Corporation, LinkedIn, etc)

• Tools for collaboration, feedback, testing and content delivery

• Metrics of success for learners and instructors of MOOCs/Evaluation of MOOCs

• MOOCs and localized support (e. g., meetups and instructor meetings)

• Development of multiple pathways for learners

• Machine learning, AI, and MOOCs: what is new?

Committees

Program Co-Chairs

• Carolyn Rose, Associate Professor, Language Technologies Institute and Human-Computer Interaction Institute, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
• Anne Trumbore, Sr. Director of Wharton Online, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Organizing committee

• Harrison Keller, Deputy to the President for Strategy and Policy; Clinical Professor of Public Policy Practice, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin
• George Siemens, Executive Director, LINK Reaseach Lab, University of Texas at Arlington

Venue

University of Texas, Austin

Contact

annetrum@wharton.upenn.edu