We live in exceptional times. The ongoing Covid 19 pandemic exposes the fragility of dominant socio-cultural, political, and economic systems worldwide by uncovering the vulnerabilities of the public sector, of which education is a cornerstone. In the specific context of lockdowns and restrictions, digital technologies play a dominant role in enabling continuous communication between teachers and students. As enablers in educational activities, allowing for designing, assessing, and carrying out learning away from the regular classroom, digital technologies also disrupt established practices. The extraordinary circumstances of the year 2020 and their implications for teaching & learning constitute an inquiry area that pushes re-imagining education in the post-pandemic. Which technologies used during the pandemic are here to stay? What are the digital practices that teachers and/or learners would like to preserve in the post-pandemic? Why? How do the sociotechnical practices emerging with the pandemic impact pedagogical perspectives, models, and even relationships? What do we gain in education with the pandemic experience? What do we lose? What educational practices would we like to contribute to in the future (i.e., ten years from now)?
Such questions are prompts aimed to spark a discussion on emerging social and technical imaginaries in education. Social imaginaries have been widely used as both a theory and a method to observe human capacity to bring new forms of being and doing into life through the power of thought and formulation (Chassay 2010; Jasanoff & Kim 2015; Jodelet 1989). They have been marked by creativity and unlimited possibilities that future-oriented imagination offers, as SF-literature bears witness to, and have been shaped by the constraints, limitations that history, culture, and social structures force upon humans (Castoriadis & Ricoeur 2016. Leblanc 1994). In the field of education, Neil Selwyn’s recent (2019) work on “What might the school of 2030 be like?” offers a helpful example of how social science fiction can be applied to explore how digital technologies might be used in a particular high school in 2030 and how they “might impact the people whose lives are enmeshed with these technologies” (p.90). Lina Rahm’s work on sociotechnical educational imaginaries (2019) is another enlightening example that unpacks sociotechnical imaginaries’ role in configuring educational practices and the digital citizen’s very concept.
Against this backdrop, this special collection focuses on re-imagining education in the post-pandemic as an invitation to reflect on: Which educational imaginaries of technology are in the making? How do they configure socio-material relations and practices in the aftermath of the transition to remote teaching and learning?
Within this frame of reference, we invite scholars, practitioners, Ed-tech designers, policy-makers, or other professionals working in the field of Learning Sciences, Learning Analytics, Technology-enhanced learning, Computer-supported collaborative learning, Educational Technology to critically reflect on the effects of the ongoing digitalization and datafication processes on learning and teaching practices for future – post-pandemic – education.
We accept original papers discussing conceptual works (i.e., presenting analytical frameworks or concepts), empirical cases or methods (i. e., social science fiction, design fiction, anticipatory methods, speculative methods) that contribute to reflect critically on the multiple effects of COVID 19 on the emerging educational imaginaries and educational practices of 10 years from now.
This call is an invitation to envision and reflect, using theoretical, empirical, or methodological works, on educational imaginaries of technology in the making.
Topics of interest are:
We welcome submissions that follow the journal’s guidelines https://www.designsforlearning.nu/about/submissions/
The journal operates with an Article Processing Charge (APC), which covers all publication costs (editorial processes; professional copyediting, web hosting; indexing; marketing; archiving; DOI registration, etc.) and ensures that all of the content is fully open access. Please note the information regarding publication fees.
We will first screen each submission to ensure appropriate fit with the Journal’s mission and fit this call for papers. We will select manuscripts that will be assigned to an Associate Editor and two reviewers for further consideration. If a revision is granted, we expect authors to revise manuscripts within 25 business days.
Timeline
Editors for this special collection:
Teresa Cerratto Pargman, tessy@dsv.su.se
Sirkku Männikkö Barbutiu, sirkku@dsv.su.se
Ylva Lindberg, ylva.lindberg@ju.se
Anna Åkerfeldt, anna.akerfeldt@mnd.su.se
References
Castoriadis, C. & Ricœur, P. (2016). Dialogue sur l’histoire et l’imaginaire social. Paris: Éditions de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales, coll. « Audiographie ».
Chassay, J. F. (2010). Imaginaire de l’être artificiel (Approches de l’imaginaire). Québec: Presses de l’Université de Québec.
Jasanoff, S. & Kim. S.-H. (2015). Dreamscapes of Modernity. Sociotechnical Imaginaries and the Fabrication of Power. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Jodelet, D. (1989). « Représentations sociales : un domaine en expansion », in D. Jodelet (ed.), Les représentations sociales. Paris, Presses universitaires de France, coll. « Sociologie d’aujourd’hui », 1989.
Kozubaev, S., Elsden, C., Howell, N., Søndergaard, M. L. J., Merrill, N., Schulte, B., & Wong, R. Y. (2020, April). Expanding Modes of Reflection in Design Futuring. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-15).
Leblanc, P. (1994). « L’imaginaire social. Note sur un concept flou », Cahiers internationaux de sociologie, vol. 97, Juillet-Décembre, 415-434.
Nationell handlingsplan för digitalisering av skolväsendet #Skoldigiplan (2019). https://webbutik.skr.se/shop?funk=visa_artikel&artnr=7585-773-2
Rahm, L. (2019). Educational imaginaries: a genealogy of the digital citizen (Vol. 214). Linköping University Electronic Press.
Selwyn, N., Pangrazio, L., Nemorin, S., & Perrotta, C. (2020). What might the school of 2030 be like? An exercise in social science fiction. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(1), 90-106.
Posted on 16 Apr 2021
This special collection invites participants of the 7th International Designs for Learning Conference to submit their manuscript to Designs for Learning –www.designsforlearning.nu. The focus of the conference and the special collection is on current changes in designs of information and knowledge representations, as well as on its consequences for how we understand and evaluate learning and communication.
Information and author guidelines can be found at:
https://www.designsforlearning.nu/about/submissions/
Submit your manuscript no later than 15th of June 2021.
Anna Åkerfeldt - anna.akerfeldt@mnd.su.se
Ola Knutsson - knutsson@dsv.su.se
Staffan Selander - staffan.selander@dsv.su.se
Posted on 05 Dec 2020
The focus of the theme is on current changes – not the least in relation to Covid-19 – in designs of information and knowledge representations, as well as on its consequences for how we understand and evaluate learning and communication.
The conference hosts hereby invite abstracts related to designs for learning, technology-enhanced learning, multimodal representations, learning ecologies, and design fiction to be submitted for consideration. The conference also welcomes abstracts on more general theoretical and methodological topics.
Posted on 24 Nov 2020
The international, Nordic-based peer-reviewed and open access journal Designs for Learning issues a call for papers for a Special Theme Collection comprising academic articles focused on the design oriented collaboration between researchers and professional staff of different kinds (museum curators, teachers, headmasters, textbooks publishers, game producers, organizers of maker-spaces, architects and others) to develop new learning environments or resources. In this themed issue, we are seeking contributions from authors across different countries and backgrounds.
The idea is to give a broad presentation of how researchers can work in partnership with professional practitioners, as well as possibly other stakeholders, albeit with different interests and responsibilities. The research and practice nexus may also involve multi-disciplinary collaboration from scholars and practitioners across design-oriented multimodal studies on meaning-making, or for example teacher training.
The submission deadline is 25th of August 2021, and the instructions for authors can be found here. Any questions about content, formats or technical issues can be directed to the Theme Issue Editors: Staffan Selander or Fei Victor Lim.
Posted on 09 Oct 2020
Due to the situation with the coronavirus, Stockholm University has cancelled all kinds of arrangements from now on. We are sorry to say that we do have to postpone the Designs for Learning conference until next year, May 24–26, 2021.
We want to tell you that we, when we planned for the conference, were really happy for all very interesting abstracts, and were looking forward to our forthcoming discussions. Since we postpone the conference, you are welcome to use the same abstract as you have submitted to us. However, we would like you to submit your abstract – or a changed/extended version of it – again, before the conference in 2021. The reason is that we have to register all abstracts anew.
New dates for the upcoming conference will be announced on the conference web page. And if you want to, there is also time to extend your abstract to an article for a special issue about “remediation of learning” for the open-access journal Designs for Learning, which we will publish after the conference next year.
If you already have registered, you can keep this registration for the next year. If you want to have your money paid back, please contact behgol.alinia@su.se
For other matters, please contact anna.akerfeldt@mnd.su.se
We hope that you all will stay healthy and that we, despite the current circumstances, will be able to meet later on.
The conference committee
Posted on 23 Mar 2020
Posted on 09 Mar 2020
For information about the conference visit the Designs for Learning conference website.
Posted on 11 Oct 2019
Conference theme: Remediation of Learning
The focus of the theme is on current changes in designs of information and knowledge representations, as well as on its consequences for how we understand and evaluate learning and communication.
The conference hosts hereby invite papers related to designs for learning, technology-enhanced learning, multimodal representations, and learning ecologies to be submitted for consideration. The conference also welcomes papers on more general theoretical and methodological topics.
Key information
Conference dates: Wednesday, May 13th – Friday, May 15th 2020
PhD Master class: Tuesday, May 12th (PM)
Deadline for abstract submission: November 30th, 2019
Abstract notification: January 31st, 2020
Keynote speakers
Presentations
We welcome different kinds of papers: 1) completed research projects; 2) research and development projects in progress; and 3) PhD projects.
For accepted papers, the standard format will be oral presentations (20 minutes) followed by shorter discussions. We also welcome proposals for a workshop or a symposium.
A workshop (60–90 minutes) is a more open, experimental and interactive form for investigation, problem-solving, and discussion, led by experienced researchers.
A symposium (60–90 minutes) is organized by a group of people who want to present and discuss thematically related papers.
Abstracts
Abstracts should have a title, a list of authors and their affiliations, and a text of maximum 500 words describing the purpose, the background, theoretical- and methodological considerations, main results and conclusions and (additional) central references.
For projects in progress, the focus could be on more central issues or dilemmas that the author(-s) want to discuss. Each abstract will be reviewed by independent and experienced researchers.
Posted on 07 Oct 2019
Theme: Remediation of Learning
We now announce the seventh Designs for Learning Conference that addresses issues related to designs for learning, multimodal knowledge representations, embodied interaction, technology-enhanced learning, online environments, learning ecologies, and design-based research. The focus of the theme is on current changes in the designs of knowledge representations, and on its consequences for how we understand, and evaluate, learning.
Hosted by: Stockholm University
When: 13-15 of May 2020
More information will follow, so watch this space!
Posted on 02 Oct 2018
Theme: Design Learning-centric analytics
We hereby announce the sixth Designs for Learning Conference that addresses issues related to designs for learning, technology enhanced learning, design-based research, multimodal knowledge representations, embodied interaction, on-line environments, and learning ecologies. A special conference thread focuses on the design of learning environments and the implications of design for learning-centric analytics.
Hosted by: The Centre for the Science of Learning and Technology, SLATE, University of Bergen
When: 23–25th of May 2018
Where: Scandic Ørnen Conference Centre, Bergen, Norway
For more information & registration: slate.uib.no/dfl2018
Posted on 13 Sep 2017
The Nordic journal Designs for Learning issues a call for papers for a Special Theme Collection comprising academic articles focused on re-representation of multimodal empirical material.
Visual communication is beginning to dominate communication in several domains. In education, for example, the use of moving images is easily distributed to pupils with digital tools, and students create multimodal artefacts as part of their learning outcomes. Using video as an observation tool results in a dense flow of information in different modes of communication. In design research, a key aspect of the process is the creation of interactive artefacts that are not easily presented in a traditional paper but rather requires a multimodal re-representation.
While written text is still the dominant mode of communication for research results, we are interested in exploring how multimodal transcriptions can be re-represented and transformed into audiovisual representations on a screen in an academic journal. We, therefore, invite you to submit multimedia items to be peer-reviewed for publication alongside with your written analysis.
The submission deadline is 1st of November 2017, and the instructions for authors can be found here. Articles are welcome from across the world.
Any questions about content, formats or technical issues can be directed to the Theme Issue Editors: Anna Åkerfeldt (anna.akerfeldt@buv.su.se) or Susanne Kjällander (susanne.kjallander@buv.su.se).
Posted on 15 May 2017
We are happy to welcome two new Associate Editors to be working with Designs for Learning, namely Professor Sanna Järvelä from the University of Oulu and Dr. Anders Øgaard from the University of Greenland.
In addition to this, we would like to welcome Dr. Yishay Mor from Levinsky College of Education, Tel Aviv, to our Advisory Board.
These additions to the journal network are a part of the strategy to increase the Nordic grounding of the journal, as well as the international reach. Members of the Editorial Team and Advisory Board are asked to serve as ambassadors for the journal, and can also review manuscripts that fall into their area of expertise.
Posted on 30 Mar 2017