AIM & SCOPE
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Learning Analytics has been distinguishing itself as one of the fields of learning technologies with the highest growth in the last years. This growth and attention has to do with the fact that Learning Analytics has become a multidisciplinary area where computer scientists, learning researchers, educational managers and practitioners can all cohabit. Learning Analytics aims to use the knowledge developed by these different professionals not just to understand, but also to improve learning processes. Through the analysis of digital and analogical traces left by students and professors during the process of teaching and learning, researchers of this field extract key indicators that allow for the development of systems and tools that are able to improve the effectiveness of the process itself.

This new field of investigation has been widely developed in Anglo Saxon countries. USA, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia are amongst the main contributors to this domain. Latin America is also starting to measure and optimize teaching and learning processes through Learning Analytics; however, the existing efforts in this direction are very isolated as there is a lack of a regional community to foster the interchange of ideas, methodologies, tools and local results in the field. In 2015, during the 4th Brazilian Conference of Informatics in Education (CBIE) and the X Latin American Conference on Learning Objects and Technologies (LACLO), the First Latin American Workshop on Learning Analytics (LALA’15) was organized as a forum for researchers of Learning Analytics in Latin America to meet each other and share their investigations. The aim of the present Call for papers is twofold, first, to widespread the best papers presented at LALA’15, and second, to enable other Learning Analytics groups from Latin America to present their research work to the international community.

Topics of interest (non exhaustive):

* Learning Analytics approaches, methods and tools
* Theories and concepts for learning comprehension
* Metrics for learning and success
* Learning activities, applications and interventions
* Sources of data for learning analytics
* Framework and architecture for learning analytics
* Visualization of learning indicators and educational data
* Issues regarding data privacy in Learning Analytics tools
* Challenges for Learning Analytics in Latin America

IMPORTANT DATES
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* Submission by: 25 February 2016
* First reviews: 10 June 2016
* Revised submission: 10 July 2016
* Final reviews: 25 August 2016
* Final versions: 10 September 2016


SUBMISSION DETAILS
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Papers must be written in English and should be between 2500 - 5000 words in length including the abstract, keywords, tables/figures, acknowledgements, and reference list, and should not be formally published nor under review somewhere. Extended versions of invited papers must contain a minimum of 30% new material, a new title, new abstract and keywords, as well as new conclusion and new references.

Papers submitted for the Hot Spots section should describe innovative practices, programs, techniques or applications. Authors should be able to provide additional background or supplemental information at the request of interested readers.

Author guidelines are available at:
https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/JLA/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

All submissions must be made via the journal website at the following address: learning-analytics.info and submitted to the section entitled “Special section: Hot Spots in Learning Analytics from Latin America”.

All submissions will be peer reviewed by at least two reviewers.


CONTACT
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Cristian Cechinel contato@cristiancechinel.pro.br
Xavier Ochoa xavier@cti.espol.edu.ec