ICLS & CSCL Programs

The International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS) is a global community of researchers and practitioners who are interested in learning experiences across schools, homes, workplaces and communities, and who seek to understand how learning is enabled by knowledge, tools, collaboration, networks, and social structures.

The ISLS Annual Meeting is hosting two co-located conferences, the ICLS (International Conference of the Learning Sciences) and the CSCL (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning) conference. Together, these conferences cover a broad spectrum of research interests and invite scholars from different disciplines and regions interested in theoretical understanding and designs of learning. While some research topics can fit within both conferences, both have distinct profiles and accordingly invite distinct types of submissions and formats, building on established scientific standards and recognition for the two areas of scholarship.

ICLS

The ICLS conference focuses on innovative pedagogies as well as development of theories of learning and instruction, combining multiple methodologies and disciplinary, e.g. psychological, anthropological, and/or sociological perspectives on processes and outcomes of education. It elucidates processes of learning within learning environments, and the ways in which technologies, instructional practices, and learning environments can be designed to support learning in different contexts. There is often a focus on detailed mechanisms of learning and its complex outcomes, e.g. how educational designs can promote diversity, equity, and justice in educational contexts.

CSCL

The CSCL conference is dedicated to designing technologies for collaboration and examining how people learn collaboratively in the contexts of education, business, and society. To advance CSCL theories, technologies, and designs, , the CSCL conference brings together scholars from disciplines such as education, computer science, psychology, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, business, etc. The CSCL program invites work that examines the design of technological settings for collaboration, how people learn in the context of collaborative activity, and CSCL’s psychological, social, and technological outcomes in diverse settings. We welcome demos as well as empirical, methodological, and theoretical papers, whereas research within the general scope of advancing understanding of learning and instruction should be submitted to the ICLS program.

In deciding which conference to submit your proposal to, we encourage you to consider the descriptions above as well as the more detailed calls for each conference. The distinction between the conferences is also reflected broadly in the different areas of focus of The Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS) and the International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (ijCSCL). In addition, your own professional identity may of course play a role in your decision.