dataTEL 2011 - Workshop on Data sets for Technology Enhanced Learning

1st workshop on ‘Data Sets for Technology Enhanced Learning’ at the
2nd STELLAR Alpine Rendez-Vous in La Clusaz, France

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=datatel...
All questions and submissions should be sent to: hendrik.drachsler-AT-ou.nl

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?l...

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."