This year’s theme is “Knowledge Building: A Place for Everyone in a Knowledge Society.”  It reflects the following advances that are bringing this vision closer:

  • Research to better convey and portray means of engaging everyone in a knowledge society
  • Knowledge Building collaboratory designs that feature teacher innovations and research advances
  • Knowledge Building Innovation Network pilot studies: opening new frontiers and discovering new challenges
  • Suite of analytic tools in use by teachers and students. These are changing the landscape of Knowledge Building analytics design and use, with implications for next-generation designs
  • Beyond Natural Curiosity book—a planned collective publication to clarify what it means to be engaged in Knowledge Building
  • Creative thinking research and development to demonstrate how Knowledge Building advances modern conceptions of creative thinking

We invite innovative formats in addition to traditional paper and poster sessions. Presentations may include, but are by no means limited to the following:

a. Promising innovations in establishing Knowledge Building communities: success stories, but also things that did not work.
b. Noteworthy Knowledge Building achievements by students.
c. Research or theory that applies the principle of improvable ideas to Knowledge Building itself—i.e., to making Knowledge Building better.
d. Technological innovations.
e. Open source development to enhance Knowledge Building and formative evaluation.
f. Open innovation: formulating “wisdom of the crowd” design challenges.
g. Obtaining and sustaining funding for Knowledge Building initiatives.
h. Administrative organization to provide school-level, district-level, or higher-level support for Knowledge Building innovation.
i. Tackling shared problems of implementation, professional development, assessment, etc.
j. Knowledge Building analytics that empower users.
k. Participatory structures in both formal and informal educational settings that give all students an intellectual stake and support multi-level engagement (students, teachers, administrators, policy makers).

 

Submission Requirements

All submissions are due May 28. All text should be submitted in word or .pdf format according to guidelines below. Innovative session formats should include author and presenter information in the proposal. Papers and posters will be reviewed blind, without names of presenters in the proposal (more information below).

1. INNOVATIVE FORMATS

We welcome design sessions, student-teacher-principal-researcher jam sessions, hackathons, workshops, planning sessions, interactive and virtual symposia, and so forth. Sessions should provide an opportunity to explore issues in depth and new initiatives through dialogue, demonstrations, movies, design activities, or other forms of engagement.

Your proposal should have the following components:

Summary.  One page overview including: Title – Authors/Institution/e-mail address. Statement of (1) the issue/problem, (2) major goals: What do you suggest we will collectively achieve/accomplish? (3) Clear description of the focus and the means by which the audience will be engaged
- Overview of demonstration or other presentation material 
- Proposed length of session, including time for audience engagement.

2. RESEARCH PAPERS

Papers can be either long (3000 to 4000 words, without references) or short (2000 to 3000 words, without references) and should focus on theoretical or conceptual work at an advanced stage of development. The long paper is for work requiring lengthy explanations of the conceptual background, methodology, data, analysis, and implications. We also welcome shorter papers reporting significant work in progress, possible on a smaller scale or less advanced state than the long paper. All papers should be submitted following this template: kbsi-template

3. POSTERS

Posters allow colleagues to gather around visual displays for extended dialogue regarding novel and promising ideas. The work may be at advanced or early stages of development and might focus on Knowledge Building high points, discourse analysis, case studies, pilot initiatives featuring new knowledge practices, technology developments, exemplary work from teachers, students, administrators, engineers, researcher, and so forth.

Posters can be paper- and/or video-based and should include 2 components. The first research component must be submitted for review:

(a) Research Summary: one page overview, including: Title 
- Authors/Institution/e-mail address (only in final version, not for the blind review submission)
. Statement of (1) the issue/problem, (2) major goals: what do you hope to achieve/accomplish?
 (3) how the research addresses the issue/problem, (4) advances–what has been learned to-date, and (5) next steps
Text should be submitted in word or .pdf format.

(b) Display:  If Print:
 Size: Max of 48” (W) x 36” (H)
 Recommended font sizes ensure posters can be read at a distance of 1.5 metres: Title 100 pt. bold Authors 60 pt. Headings 60 pt. Body Text 40 pt., min. 28 pt. Captions 24 pt.

If Multimedia: Please bring your own laptop for your presentation and a print resource to distribute, as we will not have projection equipment.

Important dates

July 18: NEW Deadline for early registration – Link to online system for registration
August 14-17, 2018:  Knowledge Building Summer Institute