Call for proposals now open for the fifth annual Connected Learning Summit, which will run entirely online from July 27 to July 29.
Call for Proposals opens: January 3, 2022
Deadline for submissions: March 27, 2022
Notifications: May 2022
We invite submissions of Research Papers and Showcases that focus on digital technologies for learning, educational and commercial games, innovative tech-infused curricula, and theoretical and/or empirical exploration of digital media and technology for learning. We particularly encourage submissions that are responsive to issues of pressing contemporary concern – a global racial reckoning, pandemic-fueled digital transformations, persistent social inequities, and the climate crisis.
Based on learnings from our first online CLS in 2021, we are introducing significant changes in format and approach for 2022.
Growing Our Community Online
Our first online year in 2021 saw the largest number of participants we have ever had for CLS, with a large growth in non-U.S. participants, and a higher proportion of students. We have decided to continue CLS as an online event for the foreseeable future in order to make CLS as accessible as possible, and grow our community internationally. This decision is also driven by concerns about covid and the climate crisis. We will be considering hybrid formats in the future.
CLS2022 will be entirely online via Midspace (formerly Clowdr), an open source, not for profit, event and community platform. For 2022, Midspace will include a range of usability enhancements and features which we believe will improve the online event experience.
A Focused Program
We also learned from our CLS2021 experience that participants found the month-long program in 2021 difficult to commit to, and would value a more tightly focused program combined with content that could be viewed asynchronously. Our 2022 program will be concentrated into three days. The majority of the event will be programmed during work hours in North America, but will also include some programming in the morning hours of Asia and Australia.
Accepted Research Paper and Showcase participants will need to pre-record a video that will be made available in a public archive before the event. Participants in these tracks will be invited to participate in social meetups during the pre-conference day on Wednesday, July 27, 2022. The pre-conference day will also include meetups for Rising Scholars, and a Research-Practice Partnership meetup.
The Main Conference on Thursday, July 28 and Friday, July 29 will include keynote and plenary sessions, and workshops and roundtables organized by Connected Learning Alliance (CLA) partners including the Civic Paths Group, Connected Camps, Critical Civic Inquiry Group, Design Based Implementation Research faculty, Digital Youth Network, Education Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, Learning Games Network, Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, MIT’s Scheller Teacher Education Program and Education Arcade, and the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium.
A New Year-Round Membership Model
In tandem with our commitment to staying online and growing our community, we will be launching a new year-round membership model that will accompany registration for CLS2022. By registering for CLS2022, you will also become a member of the CLA, with access to workshops and webinars throughout the year.
In addition to offering workshops during CLS2022, our CLA partners have also committed to offering workshops throughout the year. These workshops will offer an opportunity for CLA members to have early access to new programs and products, and act as thought partners and testers in continuing to evolve and improve innovations.
We are offering three registration tiers, which will also include one year of CLA membership: $50 for students, $100 for educational practitioners, and $250 for academic and industry participants.
About the Connected Learning Summit
CLS was first convened in 2018 with the mission to fuel a growing movement of innovators harnessing the power of emerging technology to expand access to participatory, playful, and creative learning. It was launched as a merger between three community events with this shared vision and values: the Digital Media and Learning Conference, the Games+Learning+Society Conference, and Sandbox Summit. With a unique focus on cross-sector connections and progressive and catalytic innovation, the event brings together leading researchers, educators, and developers. The hosting and stewardship of the event has continued to evolve in tandem with the changing conditions of the global pandemic. UC Irvine’s Connected Learning Lab and MIT’s Scheller Teacher Education Program and Education Arcade were the founding hosts of the event. As we have moved online and become a more international event, we are expanding our roster of partners and hosts.
