IMCL2015 19-20 November 2015, Mediterranean Palace Hotel, Thessaloniki, Greece

IMCL2015 19-20 November 2015, Mediterranean Palace Hotel, Thessaloniki, Greece

  • David Guralnick, President of Kaleidoscope Learning, New York, NY, USA
  • James Uhomoibhi, Professor at University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
  • Mudasser F. Wyne, Professor at National University, San Diego, USA
  • Panagiotis Bamidis, Associate Professor, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

David Guralnick
President of Kaleidoscope Learning, New York, NY, USA

How Mobile Devices Can Change Our Educational Goals and Methods

Mobile devices are ubiquitous these days, and are only becoming more varied and more powerful each year. For people growing up today, mobile phones, tablets, and even wearable technology are a part of everyday life, much in the way that a television or a dial phone were for previous generations.

As mobile devices change people's everyday lives, their educational needs and expectations change as well. In a world in which so many facts are available anytime from a Google search, it's easy to contact friends or family from anywhere, and many everyday tasks become easier and more efficient to perform, the skills people need to live a successful, productive, enjoyable life are changing as well. Further, people's expectations of an educational experience have changed in many ways. In this session, we will discuss how the ubiquity of mobile technology can—and perhaps should—alter our educational goals and the methods we can use in order to achieve them.

The Speaker

Photo of David GuralnickDavid Guralnick holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Northwestern University, where his work synthesized concepts from the fields of computer science, instructional design, and cognitive psychology. Dr. Guralnick designed and developed the first learn-by-doing simulation for corporate training use, as well as the first e-learning-specific authoring tool. Over the past 25 years, he has designed simulation-based training applications, performance-support systems, a great variety of online courses for business and university audiences, mobile applications, and specialized authoring tools which allow non-technical people, such as writers and trainers, to build e-learning courses and scenarios.

Dr. Guralnick is president of New York-based Kaleidoscope Learning; president of the International E-Learning Association (IELA) and founding chair of the International E-Learning Awards program; a regular keynote speaker at international conferences; chair of the International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace (ICELW); Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal on Advanced Corporate Learning (iJAC); founding chair of the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD)'s New York E-learning Special Interest Group; and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. His work has been featured in Wired magazine, Training magazine (as an Editor’s Choice), and the Wall Street Journal, and he is the recipient of numerous e-learning design awards.


James Uhomoibhi
Professor at University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Engineering Digital and Mobile Learning for Professional Development, Employability and Economic Sustainability: Issues of Collaboration, Integration, Globalization and the Internet of Things

In today’s era of globalization digital literacy and ability to use mobile devices (laptops, tablets, phones etc.) has become essential skills for all at home and in the work place. Higher education institutions continue to utilize digital learning to promote access, widen participation and enhance teaching and research. Learning has become mobile and access to instructional materials has been made possible utilizing not only the traditional desktop computers but mobiles devices such as tablet personal computers such as iPads and smart phones. Universities today talk about taking on students to learn and prepare for the world of work little realizing that they are taking on students for life as the students thereafter become engaged in lifelong learning. This keynote address focuses on the engineering of digital and mobile learning for professional development, employability and economic sustainability of individuals, organizations and society. The role of education institutions and professional bodies are presented and the issues of collaboration and technology integration in education are addressed. Mobile devices’ availability and ways of interaction for enhanced learning are explored in the context of internet of things and online learning. There is a continuing crave by learners everywhere for access to information and education to enhance their knowledge and skills for better jobs and higher wages. This has led to the development and deployment of open source materials and massive open online courses (MOOCs). The keynote examines the processes involved in collaborations for the development of systems, qualifications and competencies useful for employment. We report on existing partnerships between organizations with a focus on professional computing qualifications from BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. The benefits of current practice are discussed. This amongst others include increased employability and globally recognized professional qualifications in addition to the academic qualifications obtained from institutions. The challenges that mobile and e-learning present, which include assessments and standards are given brief mention. They form the subject for future work and a different paper. The advent and implementation of the internet of things is making knowledge creation and integration of technology in education and collaboration within and across disciplines possible. We conclude that collaboration between higher education institutions, professional organizations and industries stands to benefit not only learners, through achieving their educational aspirations but has the potential to meet the needs of industries and ensure sustained economic growth and development of society.

The Speaker

Photo of James UhomoibhiProfessor James Uhomoibhi FBCS, CITP, CPhys, MInstP, MIET, FHEA, FCHERP, a native born of Nigeria is an academic of strong international standing in Physics, Computing and Engineering. He has a first degree in Physics from Nigeria, a BPhil degree from Italy and moved to the UK where he completed his MSc in Optoelectronics and Optical Information Processing and a PhD in Laser Physics. Following his initial appointment as lecturer in Queen’s University Belfast he completed a PGCHET in Higher Education. Today he is at the University of Ulster where he has acted as Faculty e-learning coordinator for many years and lectures in engineering. He is a visiting Professor of Physics, Computer Science and IT in Nigerian Universities. Prof. Uhomoibhi is a Chartered Physicist and a member of the Institute of Physics; He is a Chartered IT Professional, a Fellow of BCS, a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Centre for Higher Education Research and Practice.

Prof. Uhomoibhi is the African Laser Centre Representative in Europe and has served as Head of SEFI Task Force on European Cooperation with Africa. SEFI is the European Society for Engineering. Education. He is a member of the Executive Committee of IGIP (The International Society for Engineering Pedagogy) and advises on African Engineering Education initiatives. He is a member of the Board of the International Network for Engineering Education and Research (iNEER). He is a member of Council BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. Prof. Uhomoibhi is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee (DIC) and the International Committee of the Institute of Physics (IoP). He is the founder and current Chair of the BCS e-Learning Specialist Group. In 2011 Prof Uhomoibhi was appointed a LEADS Scholar by the Nigerian National Universities Commission (NUC), charged with the responsibility of linking experts and academics in the Diaspora to the country. Prof Uhomoibhi is a recipient several academic and community awards including amongst others, the iNEER Global Achievement Award in Engineering Education (2011), Belfast Distinguished Conference Ambassadors Award (2012), BCS Long Service Award and the All Ireland Powerlist Distinguished African Leadership Excellence Service Award, which he received in 2012.


Mudasser F. Wyne
Professor at National University, San Diego, USA

Database for Next Generation Mobile Technologies and Applications

Advances in mobile technology have a positive impact on fast, real-time and accurate ubiquitous availability and storage of data and media. This presentation will examine some of the ways we are addressing these challenges as well as highlight subjects that are either under or over-emphasized in the area of Next Generation Mobile Technologies and Applications. It will highlight both the technology challenges as well the current industry solutions. New mobile devices place new and different demands on the traditional backend data store and persistence layers. The back end of these devices and their related applications is always a database to maintain all of the essential and required information. The mobile environment with increased options also presents some of the limitations such as Limited resources including power supply and memory, constrained bandwidth of wireless networks with mobility and connection issues. In response to the desire to be connected all the time to the data back end we see new cloud based infrastructure (SaaS, Iaas) as well as intelligent cloud hosted application infrastructure such as Amazon web service. On the other hand as a result of this, the way the users are using and consuming backend data has changed. The presentation will examine the changes in the methodology and approach used for the storage and management of back data related to the application.

The Speaker

Photo of Mudasser F. WyneI have been in academics for more than 25 years with 2 years at High Energy Physics institute (Germany), served in 5 countries and 7 different academic institutes, including National University that I joined in 2008 as Professor of Computer Science. I am currently serving as the Chair of Department of Computer Science, Information and Media Systems. I enjoy working on academic related activities hence served as chair of graduate council Program review and undergraduate program review committees in addition to serving on program assessment committees. I served with ABET for accrediting Computer Science and Information system programs since 2001 and retired as Commissioner for ABET Computing accreditation Commission (CAC) July 2015. I am also actively involved in other numerous professional activities. Served as Chair/co-chair of 14 International Conferences/workshops, Panel chair for 7 International Conferences/workshops and have given 21 invited talks at International Conferences/workshops. In addition, served on 4 Ph. D. thesis committees, 7 editorial boards for International Journals, and program committees for 157 international conferences with 50+ Publications in peer reviewed international Journals and conferences. In recognition of my hard work I have been awarded 2013 NU Professoriate award, ABET appreciation award 2014 for conducting difficult accreditation visit, and 2 Best paper awards. One of the latest accomplishments and honor is the award of prestigious 2015-16 Fulbright William J. Fulbright Scholarship award to Saudi Arabia. Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries, and it is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government.


Panagiotis Bamidis
Associate Professor, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Shifting Paradigms in Medical/Health Education Informatics: From Digitisation and Standardisation to Open/Scenario based Learning and Analytics

Medical/Health Education Informatics brings together researchers in the multi-disciplinary areas of Medical/Health Education, pedagogy, Open Education, educational technology/technology enhanced learning (TEL), Medicine2.0/social media and Medicine3.0/semantic web. Back in 2012, we had launched the homonymous conference series (MEI, (MEI2012, www.mei2012.org), (MEI2015, http://mei2015.camei-project.eu/)) which provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of the research activities of the domain, which traditionally borrows efforts/ideas from Educational Technology, computer science, as well as medical/health education, and health/medical informatics, but is also empowered by recent activities and various approaches in assessment and activity metrics and analysis of big educational data, aka learning analytics. In this talk, we identify the establishment of the domain and its main cornerstones and achievements over the past 5 years, which were initially circumscribed by efforts on digitising medical content and teaching approaches (e.g. e-Problem Based Learning, e-Virtual Patients) as well as efforts to stanrdardise content, assessments, profiles and portfolios (along the Medbiquitous consortium, www.medbiq.org). Recent focus, however, is shifted on new endeavours/prospects like those of open learning and open medical/health education, smart repurposing of scenarios and virtual learning spaces, as well as, education living labs, medical/health learning analytics and semantic web and linked data/smart approaches in analysing and standardising educational encounters and learning interactions. The talk will conclude with estimates of future global roadmaps of the domain.

The Speaker

Photo of Panagiotis BamidisDr Panagiotis Bamidis is currently an Ass. Prof. in the Medical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He has founded and is leading three working groups, namely, one in Medical Education Informatics, one in Assistive Technologies and Silver Science and one in Applied and Affective Neuroscience. In the last 6 years, he has been the co-ordinator of five large European projects (SmokeFreeBrain.org; www.meducator.net; www.longlastingmemories.eu, www.epblnet.eu, www.childrenhealth.eu) as well as the principal investigator for a number of national and international funded projects. His publication record consist of more than 85 international refereed journal papers, and over 300 international peer reviewed conference papers, as well as several book chapters / edited conference proceedings volumes and over some 470 citations (h-index>16). In addition, he has been acting as a referee in more than 30 journals, and as Guest Editor in more than 17 journal special issues. Finally, he is the President of the Hellenic Biomedical Technology Society (ELEBIT), a member of the Administration Boards of the Greek Federation of Alzheimer’s Associations and Related Disorders, the Greek AeroSpace & Space Medicine Research Association, a member of the Life Sciences Division of the International Academy of Astronautics and past member of the Innovation Zone of Thessaloniki, Greece. He has been the Chairman/Organiser of seven international conferences (iSHIMR2001, iSHIMR2005, MEDICON2010, GASMA2010, SAN2011, MEI2012, ΜΕΙ2015) and several national Biomedical Technology conferences and he is the Conference Producer of the Medical Education Informatics Conference and associated Spring/Summer School Series. He is a visiting scientist at Karolinska Institute, Sweden. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Open Knowledge Foundation and a founding member of Chapter Greece. In 2009, he was awarded the Prize of the AUTH Research Committee for the Best Track Record in funded research projects among AUTH young academic staff. In 2015, he was awarded the title of the Honorary Professor of Karaganda State Medical University, Kazakhstan, as well as the Pospelov Medal for his contributions to Medical Education development by the same University.

His research interests are within technology enhanced learning in Medical Education (web2.0, semantic web and open linked data, serious games, virtual patients, PBL, learning analytics), Affective and Applied Neuroscience, Affective and Physiological Computing, multimodal interaction and HCI, Health Information Management, Bio-medical Informatics with emphasis on neurophysiological sensing, signal analysis, and imaging of human emotions, as well as, Assistive Technologies for Active and Healthy Ageing, as well as, special education/developmental disorders, and silvergaming/exergaming/silver-science.

Important Dates

11 May 20151. Submission of structured abstracts for the main conference
2. Special Session proposals
18 May 2015Notification of acceptance for Special Sessions proposals
03 Jun 2015Notification of acceptance for abstracts for the main conference
07 Sep 2015Submission of complete papers for Special Sessions and the Main Conference: Full Papers (5 pages), Short Papers (3 pages), Posters (2 pages)
17 Sep 2015Submission of complete papers for the Doctoral Consortium
21 Sep 2015Notification of acceptance
09 Oct 2015Author registration deadline
16 Oct 2015Camera-ready due
19 Nov 2015Conference Opening

Contact

Thrasyvoulos Tsiatsos
tsiatsos@csd.auth.gr
Michael E. Auer
info@imcl-conference.org

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