| Betreff: | [WI] Second Edition of the International Student Design Contest on “PEOPLE CENTERED SMART LEARNING ECOSYSTEMS” |
|---|---|
| Datum: | Mon, 22 Jan 2018 14:22:55 +0100 |
| Von: | Carlo Giovannella <mifav@roma2.infn.it> |
| Antwort an: | Carlo Giovannella <mifav@roma2.infn.it> |
| An: | wi@lists.kit.edu |
Call for ideas and proofs of concept
The call invites students to submit ideas
(first phase of the contest) and proofs of concept/prototype
(second phase of the contest) on how to make learning ecosystems
smarter. It is open to individuals and groups of students
(bachelor, master and PhD students). The winner (individual
or group) will be awarded with 500 €. Three individuals or
groups (finalists) will be selected to present their proofs of
concept at SLERD 2018 and attend the conference for free. ASLERD
will cover also stay expenses (hotel and meals) for two
representatives per finalist.
Smart Learning Ecosystems should perform at best on all the dimensions that contribute to the well-being of students and all players involved in the development of a learning process: infrastructures, food, environment, info/admin services, mobility, safety, social interaction, satisfaction, challenges, self-fulfillment [1]. Being inspired by the flow theory [2] and by the Maslow’s pyramid [3], we can state that: 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 smartness of learning ecosystems, thus, is not created merely through the availability of digital infrastructures and applications. When technologies are both available and adopted enthusiastically, they can start to make a difference in both simplifying and accelerating progress toward the achievement of system smartness. One has to keep in mind, however, that technologies are smart not because they are capable of replacing human reasoning but, rather because they can help towards achieving a people centered smartness, through streamlining mundane organisational tasks, and enhancing the skills of all actors involved in learning processes.
Our duty, with the help of technology, is to support learning ecosystems (formal, informal, non-formal) to develop their people centered smartness towards becoming incubators of social innovation and engines of sustainable regional development. Smartness is a goal and we can support our learning ecosystems along the process to achieve it by proposing solutions capable to solve or mitigate problems that prevent the learning ecosystems to be people centered. Examples of problems detection can be found in the draft of [4].
We expect students, wishing to take part in the contest, to analyze their learning ecosystem, detect problems and find solutions that can help their, and as well other learning ecosystems, to get smarter.
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