Opportunity in the International Society for the Learning Sciences

CFP: Doctoral Consortium at the Third Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK 2013)
http://lakconference2013.wordpress.com/
8-12 April 2013, Leuven, Belgium

The LAK Doctoral Consortium brings together Ph.D. students working on topics related to Learning Analytics. The doctoral consortium will offer Ph.D. students the opportunity to present, discuss, and receive feedback on their research in an interdisciplinary and international atmosphere. Prominent professors and researchers in the field of learning analytics will provide feedback to the selected papers and participate actively and contribute to the discussions. The Doctoral Consortium will take place immediately before the LAK 2013 conference.

The intention of this doctoral consortium is to support and inspire Ph.D. students during their ongoing research efforts. Therefore, it is necessary that authors will have neither achieved their Ph.D. degree nor officially submitted their thesis before the doctoral consortium (April 2013). To enforce this rule we require authors to disclose their expected graduation date and their advisor's name when submitting.
DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM ELIGIBILITY AND APPLICATION PROCESS:
In contrast to regular conference papers, submissions should address specifically doctoral work!
Therefore, the following elements have to be addressed in the papers:
- A clear formulation of the research question,
- An identification of the significant problems in the field of research,
- An outline of the current knowledge of the problem domain, as well as the state of existing solutions,
- A presentation of any preliminary ideas, the proposed approach and the results achieved so far,
- A sketch of the applied research methodology,
- A description of the Ph.D. project's contribution to the problem solution,
- A discussion of how the suggested solution is different, new, or better as compared to existing approaches to the problem.
Accepted students should prepare:
1. An introduction of themselves and the PhD project for the introductory session. Duration: 60 sec max.
2. A 15-20 minute presentation of the PhD project to be used for introducing discussion about their project and its main issues during the small group sessions.
3. Students are also invited to prepare a poster about their Ph.D. for the LAK 2013 poster session.
Submissions should be uploaded to:
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dclak2013

The max length of DC submissions should not exceed 6 pages.

All papers will be reviewed after acceptance by at least two senior researchers and one of the accepted doctoral candidates. Additionally, two discussants, members of the doctoral consortium committee, will be appointed to each paper. Discussant comments will be followed by a plenary discussion of the paper. At the end of the consortium there will be a general discussion, including a brainstorming session about current and future research topics in the area.
DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM CALENDAR
Doctoral Consortium application submission: January 31, 2013
Doctoral Consortium application notification: February 15, 2013
Doctoral Consortium acceptance notification and reviews: March 15, 2013
Doctoral Consortium camera-ready versions: March 31, 2013
Doctoral Consortium: April 8th, 2013

Doctoral Consortium contributions will be accessible in the ACM digital library (to be clarified).
Alternatively: CEUR-WS.org
Doctoral Consortium Chairs
Katherine Maillet, Institut National des Télécommunications, France
Ralf Klamma, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Ravi Vatrapu, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark