GIFT

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...

Alelo Webinar Series on the Future of AI in Education & Training

Alelo in collaboration with the SIIA (Software and Information Industry Association) is sponsoring a webinar series of the future of artificial intelligence in education and training. The purpose of these webinars is to give educators, technologists, and investors an understanding of the current opportunities and future potential of AI to address critical problems in education and workforce training and transform the global education and training industry. We seek to dispel fears and misconceptions about AI, e.g., that it will replace teachers with algorithms. The increasing interest in AI and the recent technical advances in artificial intelligence and data-driven learning design make this series important and timely. We hope to lay out a roadmap for the next phases of development of the field.

Confirmed Speakers:
Karen Chiang, Alelo Inc. (formerly with Pearson plc)
W. Lewis Johnson, Alelo Inc.
H. Chad Lane, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
James Lester, North Carolina State University Rose Luckin, University College London

For further information and to register, go to https://www.alelo.com/2018/05/alelo-webinar-series-on-the-future-of-ai-in-education/

We are currently signing up speakers for late 2018. If you wish to nominate a speaker, please contact Lewis Johnson at ljohnson@alelo.com. Ideal speakers should have insights into the potential of AI to transform education and training and the ability to communicate to a broad audience.

In order to hear audio, please dial in to this telecon line:

866-762-7536
Participant Number: 4014063

Understanding the passion of our GIFT user community for education, we are pleased to share this announcement from our colleague Russ Shilling <russ@digitalpromise.org>

The Gates Foundation And Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Want Your Ideas On the Future of Education

These two social-impact organizations are extending a public invitation for collaborations on research and development to benefit students and educators. This story below reflects the views of this author, but not necessarily the editorial position of Fast Company.
________________________

Imagine a world where scientists at medical schools, research labs, or the National Institutes of Health achieved breakthroughs in medicine, but none of those innovations ever made it to your doctor’s office. That’s not so different from the reality we tolerate today in education. In universities and research centers across the country, scientists and educators are developing new understandings of how children learn, and what it takes to make more of them succeed. But unlike in health and medicine, education has very limited funding or infrastructure for conducting basic science and translating research into resources for classrooms.

Recent months have thrust some of the education sector’s resource strains into the national spotlight. Across the country, budget constraints in several states have highlighted the difficulty of educating today’s students in crumbling schools, and with decades-old instructional materials. Meanwhile, many educators are struggling to support students through the increasing pressures of poverty, a changing economy, and a demand for higher-level skills. Yet despite these challenges, the education sector spends less than a tenth of the average percentage <https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/exploring-opportunities-to-strengthen-education-research-while-protecting-student-privacy-2/> on research and development across other U.S. industries.

The cost of that disconnect between research and practice is huge for teachers, and even more so for kids. As recent trends <https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_2017_highlights/> in national test scores show, despite increased effort by educators, the current rate of improvement is too slow to meaningfully put more students on paths to success after high school. The truth is that we need to dramatically accelerate learning, and to do that, we need to understand it more deeply in order to design teaching environments and support systems that can deliver much better outcomes.

That’s why today, our two organizations, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are announcing a joint effort to break down the wall between research and practice and create a better, more transparent path for new ideas to reach schools and teachers. We’re opening a Request for Information (RFI) <http://k12education.gatesfoundation.org/researchanddevelopment/> about work that can help increase student success in three of the most critically important areas for student achievement in both school and life:

1. Mathematics
2. Nonfiction writing
3. Executive function (the skill set concerning memory, self-control, attention, and flexible thinking)

Strength in these areas matters in every student’s trajectory, but especially for those facing early childhood trauma, poverty, dislocation, specific learning challenges, or under-resourced schools.

In those three areas, today’s educational practices are falling far short of helping students overcome the challenges they face and ultimately excel. The RFI represents an invitation to researchers and practitioners to deepen public understanding of where the most important, ambitious, and innovative work is being done in a variety of disciplines so that those insights can be channeled quickly and effectively back into the classroom. This input from the field will help us understand how to support future research and development programs.

The reason our two philanthropies have decided to join hands in this effort is simple: We believe the scope and importance of this work exceeds what any single organization can or should undertake alone. There’s so much unrealized potential to accelerate student learning, and we hope many others will be inspired to collaborate toward this same goal alongside us.

The purpose of the initiative is not to mandate anything. It’s to learn from the work that’s currently happening in classrooms, universities, entrepreneurial efforts, and research centers throughout the country. We hope to see a wide range of approaches and ideas; technology is not a primary focus, but we recognize the role it can play in affordable access to high-quality education for all. No personally identifiable student data will be collected in this RFI.

In the months ahead, we’ll share what we learn about the crucial work being done in the three named areas, along with ideas for how to accelerate progress, breakthroughs, and scale. We believe these findings can guide potential grant making as well as bolster the entire field through a better understanding of breakthroughs now taking place in and out of traditional education. We’re excited to find ways to increase collaboration and lift those breakthroughs out of isolation so that everyone can benefit.

Jim Shelton is president for education at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Bob Hughes is director of K–12 Education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. To learn more about the Request for Information, please visit here <http://chanzuckerberg.com/researchanddevelopment> or here <http://k12education.gatesfoundation.org/researchanddevelopment/&gt;.

Hi... we have set up a webex to screen share and provide audio from GIFTSym6... note each day is a different webex...

Audio for Webex sessions below is: 1-866-762-7536; Participant Code:4014063

Wednesday, May 9, 2018
8:00 am Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00) | 9 hrs
Meeting number: 904 634 505
Meeting password: XTPPEiqW
Meeting link: https://arl.webex.com/arl/j.php?MTID=m30233687af0f91c5d1878dee9add8ffb

Thursday, May 10, 2018
8:00 am Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00) | 9 hrs
Meeting number: 902 349 957
Meeting password: JjMG2S3P
Meeting link: https://arl.webex.com/arl/j.php?MTID=m8567f120a1525dfb0027f169dec3d329

Friday, May 11, 2018
8:00 am Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00) | 9 hrs
Meeting number: 903 256 250
Meeting password: umkiEXtr
Meeting link: https://arl.webex.com/arl/j.php?MTID=m84668c89561bd309612edb2ef815a2e2