This special issue aims at offering an opportunity to reflect on how a Learing Ecosystems can become smarter and act as driver of regional development and the social innovation. In fact, accordingly to the Timisoara declaration:
'Learning ecosystems have the potential to play a central role in helping disparate members of a community to become active citizens. Engagement, cohesion, well-being and the development of a community, in other words its “smartness”, depends largely on the “smartness” of the learning ecosystems. Ecosystems are smart when individuals that take part in the local processes achieve a high level of skills and, at the same time, are also strongly motivated and engaged by continuous and adequate challenges, provided that their primary needs are reasonably satisfied.
The duty of the technology, is to support learning ecosystems to develop their people centred smartness towards becoming incubators of social innovation and engines of sustainable regional development - to tackle the current discontinuity between time, technology, place, space, content and process (formal, informal, non-formal).'
 
This special issue is supported by the Association for Smart Learning Ecosystems and Regional Development (ASLERD).

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Topics of Interest
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This special issue welcome research papers discussing innovative aspects of Smart Learning Ecosystems and their role in the development of smart city and regions. The three main macro-topics of interest are:
 
• understanding influences, relations and models
to include: vision, strategies and processes; boundaries and interplay between formal and informal learning and new educational models; continuity-discontinuity of time, technology, place/space, process; sharing & participatory practices; use of public space & goods; dual education; open access to any resource and disparity; capacity building and social capital; cultural influences; monitoring and benchmarking of smartness of learning ecosystems; orchestration: complexity and its government; challenges by smart cities and regions to smart learning environments

• abilities, skills and competences
to include: general frameworks; design, data and other relevant literacies; relation with digital skills & competences; strategies to foster acquisition included gamification; pedagogical, social challenges; monitoring, evaluation and awareness; literacies, skill and competences of smart citizens

• techno ecosystems
to include: open & big data management and their application in education; interoperability of data & services; safety & security; privacy; trustability; IoT, ubiquitous and wearable technological supports; geolocalized information; mediation role of technologies

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Submission procedure
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The manuscripts should be submitted either in .doc or in .rtf format.
All papers will be blindly peer-reviewed by at least two reviewers.
Authors are invited to submit 8-20 pages paper (including authors' information, abstract, all tables, figures, references, etc.). 
The paper should be written according to the IxD&A authors' guidelines
->http://www.mifav.uniroma2.it/inevent/events/idea2010/index.php

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Authors' guidelines
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Link to the paper submission page:
http://www.mifav.uniroma2.it/idea2010/login.php
(when submitting the paper, please, choose Domain Subjects under:
"IxD&A special issue on: ‘Smart Learning Ecosystems and Regional Developmemnt')
 
More information on the submission procedure and on the characteristics
of the paper format can be found on the website of the IxD&A Journal
where information on the copyright policy and responsibility of authors,
publication ethics and malpractice are published.

For scientific advices and for any query please contact the guest-editors:
 
• alke [dot] martens [at] uni-rostock [dot] de
• radu [dot] vasiu [at] cm [dot] upt [dot] ro
• annika [dot] wolff [at] open [dot] ac [dot] uk

marking the subject as: 'IxD&A issue on: Smart Learning Ecosystems''.

Special issue on "Smart Learning Ecosystems and Regional Development" to be published at the Interaction Design and Architecture(s) Journal (IxD&A)

(ISSN 1826-9745, eISSN 2283-2998)
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Guest Editors:
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• Alke Martens, University of Rostock, Germany
• Radu Vasiu, Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania
• Annika Wolff, Open University, UK
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Important dates:
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• Deadline: October 15, 2016
• Notification to the authors: November 15, 2016
• Camera ready paper: November 30, 2016
• Publication of the special issue: mid December, 2016

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Forthcoming issues:
http://www.mifav.uniroma2.it/inevent/events/idea2010/index.php?s=102

• Spring 2017
'The Future of Human-Building Interaction: An HCI Perspective'
Guest Editors: Hamed S. Alavi, Denis Lalanne
with a focus section on
'Transforming books and the reading experience through interactive technologies'
Guest Editors: Mohammad Obaid, Ilgim Veryeri Alaca, Pawel W. Wozniak, Lars Lischke, Mark Billinghurst
 
• Summer 2017
'Connecting Learning Design and Learning Analytics''
Guest Editors: Davinia Hernandez Leo, Yishay Mor, Maria Jesus-Triana, Paul Salvador
with a focus section on:
'Temporalities of Engagement: challenges of co-design in public spaces'
Guest Editors: Alma Leora Culén, Dagny Stuedahl
 
• Autumn 2017
'Emerging Design: Transforming the STEAM Learning Landscape with the Support of Digital Technologies'
Guest Editors: Daniel Spikol, Jalal Nouri, Teresa Cerratto Pargman, Marcelo Milrad

• Winter 2017
'Citizen, Territory and Technologies: Smart Learning Contexts and Practices'
Guest Editors: Óscar Mealha, Monica Divitini, Matthias Rehm
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