On 20-23 May 2019 at George Mason University in Arlington, VA, IEEE IC Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering (ICICLE) will host the inaugural IEEE ICICLE Conference on Learning Engineering to bring together for the first time professionals from industry, education, and government to highlight the state-of-the art profession and academic discipline of Learning Engineering.
It has been 50 years since Nobel laureate Herb Simon, a Carnegie Mellon University professor and expert in artificial intelligence (AI), called for a new field of technical competence in the learning domain that he called learning engineering.
Over the past five decades, technology has become central to our learning lives. The emergence of new tools, products, media formats, and technologies to support eLearning and digital learning along with the growth of data visualization, programming and coding, and techniques from learning science and data analytics has lent itself to the emerging field of Learning Engineering.
“The industry is maturing in a number of ways, including in the development of articulated standards for interoperability of learning and assessment content, results, and para-data; better understanding and measurement of efficacy; and established communities of engineers, academics, and practitioners diligently working toward solutions,” says Michelle Barrett, vice president of research technology, data science, and analytics at ACT in Getting Smart.
Recognizing a need to support learning engineering, the IEEE Standards Association approved the creation of a new program, the IEEE Industry Connections Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering (ICICLE). It was formed as a two-year activity to define and support this burgeoning field and to advocate for the development of the professional and academic disciplines of learning engineering.
ICICLE is an open forum and community-driven platform that currently comprises more than 50 organizations in industry, academia, and government with a common goal of supporting the development of learning engineering. For a year now, nine Special Interest Groups have been meeting regularly to discuss the discipline of learning engineering in these areas:
- Artificial Intelligence and Adaptive Learning Technologies
- xAPI and Learning Analytics
- Competency Frameworks and Certification
- Learning Technology Data Standards
- Learning Engineering Among the Professions
- An Academic Curriculum for Learning Engineering
- Data Governance and Privacy in Learning Contexts
- Learning Experience Design
- Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Realities from the Learning Perspective
What can you expect?
The conference is organized around three themes to guide the conversation:
- What are the competencies of learning engineering?
- What do we know about learning, and what does our knowledge suggest about design of learning experiences, conditions for learning, and use of supporting technologies?
- How will the emerging learning engineering profession address privacy versus personalization?
Sessions will be interactive, participatory and explorative to discuss how to apply learning engineering to companies, universities, schools and organizations.
Discussions, panels, group work, and sessions will be on topics such as:
- Will the Real Learning Engineer Please Stand Up?
- How Learning Engineering can be considered a team sport
- Emerging technologies from a Learning Engineering perspective: AI, adaptive, learning analytics, xReality, blockchain, 5G, and more
- What have we learned so far in developing Adaptive and AI Supported Learning Systems at scale
- Policy/Culture Changes for Organizations that Design & Implement Data Reflective Learning Experiences and more…
Who should attend?
The conference will be an intimate and curated event with engaging sessions to connect professionals from industry, academia, and government. It is opened to anyone interested in learning engineering as a profession or discipline,
Prospective attendees may include:
- Science and Technology (S&T): software engineers, platform developers, technology standards developers, learning science researchers
- Policy, Acquisition, and Management (PAM): institutional leaders and managers, policy makers, procurement professionals, and HR/talent management/professional development professionals
- Design and Development (D&D): curriculum designers; instructional designers; designers of online, physical, and hybrid learning environments; learning experience and learning technologies designers, analysts and integrators; activity designers in particular disciplines
The conference will offer a publication opportunity for anyone attending. All participants are eligible to submit papers and presentations to the post-conference proceedings publication.
Early bird registration ends 29 March 2019. Student pricing is also available. More information, hotel accommodation, and the schedule are available on ICICLE’s website.
The conference will be an exciting opportunity to become a vital voice in this burgeoning field a and to explore ideas around the concept of Learning Engineering. ICICLE welcomes you to collaborate in this work.
ICICLE is a project of the IEEE SA Industry Connections (IC) Program. The Industry Connections Program helps incubate new standards and related products and services by facilitating collaboration among organizations and individuals as they hone and refine their thinking on rapidly changing technologies. IC Program outputs include: proposals for standards, white papers, peer-reviewed guides and position papers, conferences, workshops and other events, databases and registration services, software, tools and web services.