*CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS*

*Proposal Submission Deadline: February 28, 2009*

*/E-Infrastructures and Technologies for Lifelong Learning: Next 
Generation Environments/*

 

 

1. */Introduction/*

The emerging knowledge society places new requirements on the education 
sector to support the needs of individuals and organisations. In the 
area of lifelong learning in particular, which is one of the most 
important motors driving education in the 21st century, e-learning has 
become a collaborative and community-based process. This calls for tools 
to support the autonomous and dynamic creation of lifelong learning 
communities and new distributed e-learning services.

To this end, the integration of innovative models, methods and 
technologies for the creation, storage, use, and exchange of knowledge 
resources and user-generated content, learning activities and units of 
learning, competence development programs and networks for lifelong 
learning is being investigated world wide. Advanced technologies that 
employ decentralised solutions where both resources and computation can 
be distributed have been developed in the form of online communities 
created by online collaborative tools; blogs, wikis, webcasts, webinars 
and social networking applications. These applications facilitate the 
development of a technical, organisational infrastructure for lifelong 
learning in formal or informal learning contexts. This e-infrastructure 
is composed mostly of open-source, standards-based, sustainable and 
innovative technologies and provides easy access to facilities that 
enable the lifelong development of competencies and expertise in the 
various occupations and fields of knowledge.

The focus of advanced technologies is moving from building large 
monolithic systems towards defining and constructing small components 
which can be integrated. This method permits the development of modular 
and flexible distributed systems, in which components can be added, 
removed or replaced more easily than in traditional models of e-learning 
systems, allowing new applications or systems to be composed from 
collections of available services. Furthermore, these technologies can 
be seamlessly integrated with pedagogic theories in order to be adopted 
into the everyday practices of educational organisations and independent 
learners, delivering lifelong learning and engaging learners in an 
empowering way.

 

*/Objective of the Book/*

The books aims to provide a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art 
technologies for e-learning and lifelong learning. It will cover 
theoretical approaches, models, architectures, systems and applications. 
It will address many issues in the field, providing readers with insight 
on the various stages of the technological life cycle, as well as 
applications in real world settings. It will act as a one-stop reference 
by providing a holistic view of the various issues in the area of 
advanced technologies for lifelong learning ranging from organisational 
issues to lifelong learning delivery issues. In the evolving educational 
landscape it is important to support informed decision-making and 
planning by successfully matching technologies, curriculum targets, 
lifelong learner needs, and organisational requirements for technology 
integration.

 

*/Target Audience/*

The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals and 
researchers working in the field of e-learning and lifelong learning 
systems, e.g. educational technologists and software developers, 
managerial staff involved in assessing the benefits of the various 
technologies for e-learning and lifelong learning, researchers working 
on the areas of technology-enhanced learning, web-based learning 
environments and personalised learning, instructors and e-learning 
systems developers interested in learning how to embrace new lifelong 
learning technologies effectively. Moreover, the book will provide a 
source of reference and a guide for students taking courses or working 
on projects related to large scale information systems, distributed 
systems and content delivery systems for e-learning and lifelong learning.

 

*/Recommended Topics /*

The book will aim to cover all aspects of lifelong learning systems, 
including creating, managing and modelling content and information, 
organisational strategy and management, technologies, curriculum 
development, instructional design, learning delivery, open problems, 
research issues. It will present original work and will be useful to a 
wide range of audience from different backgrounds working as a one-stop 
reference for those interested in technologies for e-learning and 
lifelong learning. Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, 
the following:

-          Creating, managing and modelling content and information for 
e-learning and lifelong learning

-          Organisational strategy and management issues in developing 
and supporting lifelong learning

-          Technological issues

-          Curriculum development issues in lifelong learning

-          Instructional design issues and impact in lifelong learning

-          e-learning and lifelong learning delivery issues

-          e-learning and lifelong learning research methods and approaches

-          Models of distributed systems for lifelong learning

-        Security, trust and privacy considerations in lifelong learning 
e-infrastructures

-        Decentralised user modelling for lifelong learning

-        Collaborative web technologies for lifelong learning

-        Free and open source software in lifelong learning infrastructures

-        Web 2.0 technologies and lifelong learning

-        User modelling and personalisation for lifelong learning

-        Networked organisations for lifelong learning

-        Semantic web technologies for lifelong learning

-        Service-oriented architectures for e-learning and lifelong learning

-        Interoperability and standards for e-learning and lifelong learning

-        Communities of practice and communities of learning.

-        Approaches to integration and personalisation of educational 
systems for lifelong learning

 

*/Submission Procedure/*

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit /on or before 
*February 28, 2009*/, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the 
mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted 
proposals will be notified by */March 31, 2009 /*about the status of 
their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected 
to be submitted by */June 20, 2009/*. All submitted chapters will be 
reviewed on a double-blind review basis. This book is scheduled to be 
published by IGI Global ( www.igi-global.com <http://www.igi-pub.com>).

 

/Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded *electronically* (Word 
document) or by *mail* to:/


          Dr. George D. Magoulas

London Knowledge Laboratory


                                      UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

E-mail: [log in to unmask]

 

---------------------
Dr George D. Magoulas
Reader in Computer Science
Programme Director- MSc AIS, MSc IIS, MSc WIM
School of Computer Science and Information Systems
Birkbeck College, University of London
Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK
Office: B34E (Senate House, North Block)
Phone: +44 20 7631 6717
Fax: +44 20 7631 6727
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Webpage: http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/~gmagoulas
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"Birkbeck - Changing lives since 1823"
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