GIFT

GIFT Cloud (cloud.gifttutoring.org) is up and running again.

Thank you for your patience.

We plan on taking GIFT Cloud (cloud.gifttutoring.org) offline for a while tomorrow, Tues April 16th, at 9 am Eastern. The down time is expected to be for most of the morning. As soon as GIFT cloud is back another news announcement will be posted.

If you have a need for GIFT cloud to remain online please post something to the forums.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

ATTENTION: Mark your calendars! GIFTsym7 dates have been confirmed.
(Authors: GIFTsym Paper Template is attached for paper preparation)

The event will take place 16 & 17 May 2019 on the campus of the University of Central Florida (UCF).

The building can be located at 12650 Gemini Boulevard North, Orlando, FL 32816 in Multi-Purpose Room 129. Please note that parking on campus has a $5 per day fee. We recommend using Parking Garage H, which can be entered directly off of Gemini Blvd. There are free shuttle options as well, for those interested. As the dates approach, we will provide a marked map with all parking and shuttle recommendations.

We are still finalizing the agenda, but we plan to share a draft by the end of next week. We can confirm that GIFTsym7 will end by 3pm on 17 May to accommodate flights home, so please plan your travel accordingly.

Also, DON'T forget to register for GIFTsym7. To ensure we have appropriate refreshments and accommodations for all in attendance, please register by clicking the following link:

https://cloud.gifttutoring.org/tutor/?eid=7677820d-8270-430d-85b1-2eeea4f8e3a9

We're excited to see everyone and to share the wonderful work being performed in support advancing the utility of Adaptive Instructional Systems!

If there are any questions, please contact benjamin.s.goldberg.civ@mail.mil.

The GIFT team is hosting a half-day workshop titled "Approaches and Challenges in Team Tutoring" at the Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) 2019 Conference in Chicago, IL.

We invite workshop paper submissions about the up-and-coming topic of Team Tutoring and Collaborative Learning.

The call for papers and submission information can be found at:
https://easychair.org/cfp/TeamTutoringWorkshopAIED2019

The goals of this workshop include providing a forum for researchers to discuss the progress that they have made in team or collaborative tutoring, discuss the approaches that they have taken, the challenges that they have encountered, and/or present theoretical models on innovative methodologies to address future work on team or collaborative tutoring.

This workshop is expected to be of interest to those in academia, government, and industry who are developing tutoring experiences intended to include interaction between multiple learners. The expected outcomes of the workshop include an identification of team tutoring gaps/challenges in varying learning domains, approaches that have been successful or unsuccessful in meeting those challenges, and determining the next steps in approaches that AIED researchers can use for their own team tutor development.

The workshop will include a presentation of the accepted papers, followed by an open discussion about the challenges and current state of team tutoring. The discussion will conclude by addressing research gaps and future directions of team tutoring.

Submission Guidelines
All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to a journal or conference.
Reviews and acceptances will be based on extended abstracts, which are 800 words.
Full papers are between 5 to 10 pages in Springer LNCS format.
Proceedings papers will be published online at http://ceur-ws.org
Both empirical and theoretical papers with topics related to team tutoring and computer-based collaborative learning are welcome.

List of Topics of Interest
Team Tutoring
Lessons Learned from Developing Intelligent Team Tutoring Systems
Team Assessment Strategies and Approaches in an Intelligent Team Tutoring System
Collaborative Problem Solving and Learning
Theoretical models proposing innovative methodologies to address future work on team or collaborative tutoring
Discussion of steps forward in establishing team intelligent tutoring systems
Related topics are also welcome

Important Dates
April 26, 2019: Extended Abstract submission (800 words)
May 7, 2019: Acceptance Notification
May 31, 2019: Camera Ready Paper Deadline (5 to 10 pages in Springer LNCS format)
June 25 - 29, 2019: AIED 2019 Conference; Workshop is expected to be scheduled for June 25th or June 29th

Easy Chair Call for Papers: https://easychair.org/cfp/TeamTutoringWorkshopAIED2019
Easy Chair Submission Link: https://easychair.org/my/conference.cgi?conf=teamtutoringworkshop

If there are any questions, please contact the workshop co-chairs: Anne Sinatra (anne.m.sinatra.civ@mail.mil) and Jeanine DeFalco (Jeanine.a.defalco.ctr@mail.mil)

Based on multiple requests, we are happy to announce an extension to the GIFTsym7 Abstract Deadline.

New Due Date: 18 MARCH 2019

You can submit directly at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=giftsym7

If there are any questions or comments, please contact Benjamin Goldberg (benjamin.s.goldberg.civ@mail.mil)

FRIENDLY REMINDER:
The GIFTsym7 deadline is rapidly approaching. For access to the full Call for Papers, please click the following link: https://gifttutoring.org/news/93

Extended abstracts (800+ words) are due 08 March. You can submit directly at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=giftsym7

Please share this announcement with anyone and everyone you feel may be interested. We are looking forward to learning about all the great work being done.

CALL FOR PAPERS (https://easychair.org/cfp/GIFTSym7)

GIFTSym7 is the seventh annual Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT) Users Symposium. GIFT is an open source, empirically-based, service-oriented framework of tools, methods and standards to make it easier to author computer-based tutoring systems (CBTS), deliver and manage instruction, and assess the effect of adaptive instruction, CBTS, components and methodologies. GIFT is being developed under the Adaptive Tutoring Research Science & Technology project at the Learning in Intelligent Tutoring Environments (LITE) Laboratory, part of the US Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center’s Simulation and Training Technology Center (NSRDEC STTC).

GIFTSym7 invites GIFT designers, developers and practitioners to submit technical papers about their ideas, experiences, and lessons-learned in using GIFT to author and evaluate Adaptive Instructional Systems (AIS). In an effort to sustain the growth of the community, we will continue with last year’s addition and have a track to share ideas for standardization across AISs.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. The following paper categories are welcome:

• Full papers (5-10 pages using template) describing design, application, and/or science-based potential enhancements to GIFT. This will form the basis for four half-day sessions at GIFTSym.
• Short papers (3-4 pages using template) describing standards opportunities for AISs. This will form the basis for a separate session on the applicability of standards for AIS development.

SUBMISSION SCHEDULE
Abstracts are required to be extended abstracts (minimum 800 words) covering the focus of your paper, results/conclusions and recommendations.

• Abstract Submission Deadline - 08 March 2019
• Acceptance Notification - 20 March 2019
• Paper Submission Deadline - 30 April 2019
• Presentation Submission Deadline - 09 May 2019
• GIFTSym7 - 16-17 May 2019, Orlando, Florida

• AI and Machine Learning for ITSs
• Collective and Team-Based Methods
• Measurement and Assessment
• Authoring Tools
• Domain Modeling
• Individual Learner Modeling
• Instructional Management
• ITS Architecture and Ontology
• After Action Review (AAR)
• Competency Modeling
• Standards for Adaptive Instructional Systems (AISs)

LINK TO SUBMISSION SITE:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=giftsym7

All questions about submissions should be emailed to Dr. Benjamin Goldberg at benjamin.s.goldberg.civ@mail.mil

GIFT 2018-2X is now available for download on the GIFT Portal at http://gifttutoring.org
Download GIFT 2018-2X directly here: https://gifttutoring.org/projects/gift/files

Free GIFT Account registration required to download GIFT; GIFT is available at no cost
This release features the developmental code update to what will be running on GIFT Cloud soon. This release features:
- Virtual Human Toolkit characters (downloadable on gifttutoring.org)
- a new DKF (Realtime Assessment) creation and editing tool
- bug fixes and more...

Due to issues found in testing, GIFT-2018-2X has been delayed until the end of the week. It features a new virtual character and DKF creator/editor; these features touch nearly all existing content and have many use cases.

GIFT 2018-1 is now available for download on the GIFT Portal at http://gifttutoring.org

Download GIFT 2018-1 directly here: https://gifttutoring.org/projects/gift/files

Free GIFT Account registration required to download GIFT; GIFT is available at no cost

This release features the developmental code update to what has been running on GIFT Cloud for the last number of months. GIFT Cloud updates will still be deployed regularly. This release features:
- full regression testing
- iCAP improvements and remediation instructional phase
- Further EdX and LTI integration
- New sensors
- New DKF features (ability to add any GIFT course object (except another simulator) as a feedback and remediation event)
- FASTER (much faster, especially in regards to authoring)
- Use of a Learner Record Store
- and more...