Tag Archives: CALRG conference

CALRG Conference 2025: Programme

48th Computers and Learning Research Group Annual Conference (Online) 

16-19 June 2025 

We’re delighted to share the schedule and abstracts for this year’s 48th CALRG conference. The conference will take place online and is open to all.

If you are external to The Open University (UK) then please email us for links to join the conference sessions.

 Monday 16 June 2025 (Session abstracts)
Time  Presentation   Speaker(s) 
14.00  Welcome  Eileen Scanlon (OUUK) 
14.15  Keynote: Learning Science at a Distance?   Eileen Scanlon (OUUK)  
15.15  Comfort break     
15.30  The importance of context in deploying AI in educational arenas  Audrey Ekuban and John Domingue (OUUK)   
16.00  Designing and Evaluating an OU AI Digital Assistant (AIDA): What do students value? How will educators maintain influence?   Tim Coughlan and Bart Rienties (OUUK)   
16.30  Close     

Tuesday 17 June 2025  (Session abstracts)
9.15  Symposium  

FACiliTating Physical Activity for people with long-term health conditions: understanding barriers and enablers for a fit society (FACT-PA) and how (educational) technology might help 

  

Elaine Duncan (Glasgow Caledonian University), Fereshte Goshtasbpour (OUUK), Emma Harris (OUUK), YingFei Heliot (University of Surrey), Bart Rienties (OUUK), Leani van Vuuren (University of South Africa)

  
10.45  Comfort break     
11.00  Overcoming Tyrannies in Campaigns for Impact  Anne Adams, Gareth Davies, Gabi Kent, Gaia Cantellia (OUUK)   
11.30  Using Digital Platforms for Inclusive Citizen Science and Sustainability in the PEACE of Mind Youth Wellbeing Intervention  Jessica Carr (OUUK), Natalie Divin (OUUK), Caoimhe Millar (Verbal Arts Centre), Geraint Griffith (Cedar Foundation), Kathryn Stanford (Inspire Wellbeing), Christothea Herodotou (OUUK)    
12.00   Podcasting and Peacebuilding: Stories from Rwanda, Nepal, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan in the Everyday Peacebuilding through the Arts Podcast   Sherezade García Rangel (Lincoln) and Koula Charitonos (OUUK)   
  Short comfort break     
12.30  nQuire for students: Enabling students to develop scientific thinking skills  Sagun Shrestha and Christothea Herodotou (OUUK)   
13.00  Relational Research as a Civic Method for Generating Policy Impact from Community Engagement  Gareth Davies, Anne Adams and colleagues    
13.30  Close     

Wednesday 18 June 2025  (Session abstracts)
9.15  Trends in the use of technology, the English language and inclusion in higher education across East and South Asia   Agnes Kukulska-Hulme and Saraswati Dawadi (OUUK)   
9.45  Learning ecosystems: Understanding the processes and outcomes of technology-enhanced teacher professional development in Bangladesh   Agnes Kukulksa-Hulme and Tom Power (OUUK)   
10.15  Comfort break      
10.30  Exploring the impact of visual aid tools on improving accessibility and inclusivity in online learning of three selected public secondary schools in Mzuzu City   Onick Gwayi, Stephen Pangani, Bridget Mbewe and Davison Nkhoma (Domasi College of Education)   
11.00  Exploring teaching and learning in Gurku IDP camps in Nigeria: A Participatory action research inquiry the lived experience of teachers and students, teachers’ adaptive pedagogies, and technology integration (Mobile learning)    Stephanie Akinwoya (OUUK)    
11.30  Comfort break      
11.45  Supporting doctoral researchers in the Global South through network federation: An update from the Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN)  Beck Pitt, Rob Farrow and Carina Bossu (OUUK)   
12.15  Social, academic, and technological challenges faced by learners with disabilities in Pakistan.  Munir Moosa (World Institute on Disability)    
12.45  Close      

 Thursday 19 June 2025 (Session abstracts)
9.15  Ethical use of generative AI in Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities?  Syeda Rakhshanda Kaukab (Ziauddin University)   
9.45  Navigating the Ethical Frontiers of AI in Higher Education: Insights from a Delphi Study on Academic Integrity   Ayşegül Liman Kaban (Mary Immaculate College; University of Limerick) and Aysun Gunes (Anadolu University)   
10.15  Towards an EDIA-based and AI-enabled pedagogy across the curriculum    Mirjam Hauck, Rachele deFelice, Clare Horackova, Deirdre Dunlevy, and Venetia Brown (OUUK)   
10.45  Comfort break     
11.00  Designing Pedagogical AI to Scaffold Peer Feedback: Insights from a Classroom-Based Pilot  Zexuan Chen, Bart Rienties, and Simon Cross (OUUK)   
11.30  AI-enhanced educational videos for online harm reduction: insights from the PRIME project   Elizabeth FitzGerald and Peter Devine (OUUK)   
12.00  SAGE-RAI: Smart Assessment and Guided Education with Responsible Artificial Intelligence  Joseph Kwarteng and colleagues (OUUK)   
12.30  Close      

CALRG Conference 2025: Call for Papers

Although the deadline for submissions has now passed, our call for papers for the 2025 CALRG Conference was as follows:

48th Computers and Learning Research Group Annual (Online) Conference: Call for Papers 

** Submission deadline Friday 16 May 2025 (extended to noon BST on Friday 23 May 2025)** 

We invite submissions for the 48th annual conference of the Computers and Learning Research Group (CALRG), to be held during the week of 16 June 2025. The conference will be held online, is open to all and free of charge.  

CALRG is based in the Institute of Educational Technology (IET), The Open University (UK) and is one of the UK‘s leading research groups on the use of technologies in education. CALRG’s annual conference provides a forum for members, as well as other researchers and practitioners in the field, to present their work. We particularly encourage research students to submit proposals for the doctoral consortium and participate in the conference. 

We invite proposals for our 2025 conference on a broad range of topics, including:  

  • Hybrid learning  
  • AI, ChatGPT and education 
  • Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) 
  • Accessible and equitable online learning 
  • Mobile learning 
  • Effective designing for learning and learner experiences 
  • Citizen science and public engagement 
  • Learning analytics 
  • Openness in education 
  • Game-based learning 
  • Professional learning 
  • Widening access and participation in education with technology. 
  • Awareness and reflection in technology-enhanced learning and teaching.  
  • Performance augmentation.  
  • Digital education and global challenges such as the climate emergency and forced migration. 

Submission Types 

Type 1: Full presentation 

Full presentations are designed for work that is mature or in the final stages of analysis.  

To help showcase IET’s current work, we anticipate that all academic research projects will submit a proposal, where possible. We also welcome submissions from projects in openTEL, the wider university and beyond. 

Full presentations will be allocated approx. 25-30 minutes, including 10 minutes for questions and discussion. Abstracts should be 250-300 words. 

Type 2: Doctoral consortium   

The CALRG conference’s doctoral consortium provides a supportive environment for PhD and EdD candidates to showcase their work. The doctoral consortium will feature a panel of experienced experts to provide guidance and encouragement. 

Doctoral consortium sessions are allocated 30 minutes total. Presenters can decide how best to use the time and the ratio of feedback to presentation. Abstracts should be 250-300 words. 

Type 3: Innovative / Wildcard  

If you have a session idea that doesn’t fit into the full presentation or doctoral consortium format, we welcome your proposal! Abstracts should be 250-300 words.  

Submission Guidance 

Accepted abstracts for all submission types will be made available online.  

With presenter permission, we will record conference sessions and release edited versions of these on IET’s YouTube channel. You can review available 2023 conference sessions here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmQqs2jGU8PqdH-yhILXxwcrCC_939E3O&feature=shared  

The deadline for abstract submissions is Friday 16 May 2025 (subsequently extended to noon BST on Friday 23 May 2025) 

Submit your abstract.

Following review, we will be in touch during w/c 26 May 2025 regarding your submission outcome.  

Contacts and further information 

 The CALRG Conference 2025 organising team is: Hannah Clarkson, Fereshte Goshtasbpour, Beck Pitt, Eileen Scanlon, Thomas Ullmann and the IET-Research team. 

CALRG Conference 2023: Programme

We’re delighted to share the provisional schedule and abstracts for this year’s 46th CALRG conference. The conference will take place online and is open to all.

If you are external to The Open University (UK) then please email us for links to join the conference sessions.

This post was last updated on 26 June 2023.

The CALRG logo

The 46th Computers and Learning Research Group Annual Conference

All times shown are in BST (GMT+1) 

Tuesday 27 June 2023: Doctoral Consortium 

  • 14.00: Faculty members’ teaching practices in developing inclusive pedagogy: from theory to action (Ana Castellano Beltrán, Universidad de Sevilla)
  • 14.30: Can geospatial technologies reduce the transactional distance in open and distance learning? (Kamran Mir, Allama Iqbal, OU Islamabad)
  • 15.00-15.15: Comfort break
  • 15.15: Negotiating the competing demands of home, work and learning through improved self-efficacy in CPD for healthcare professionals (Helen Darlaston, OU UK)
  • 15.45: Predicting drop-out in Toastmasters (Selina Griffin, OU UK)
  • 16.15: Close

Session abstracts: https://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/CALRG/calrg-conference-27-june-2023/

Wednesday 28 June 2023: OpenTEL SIG launch, Openness & Inclusion 

  • 13.30: Welcome (Eileen Scanlon, OU UK)
  • 13.40: OpenTEL SIG launch (Bart Rienties, Gerald Evans, Mark Williams and Natasha Huckle, OU UK)
  • 14.45: Comfort break
  • 15.00: Open Education Research: Celebrating 10 years of the Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN) (Rob Farrow, Martin Weller, Beck Pitt and Carina Bossu, OU UK)
  • 15.30: A call for open science to become inclusive science (Garron Hillaire, AERDF)
  • 16.00: Deep viewpoints: Using citizen curation to address the museum participation gap (Paul Mullholland, OU UK)
  • 16.30: Close

Session abstracts: https://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/CALRG/calrg-conference-28-june-2023/

Thursday 29 June 2023: Professional Development, Capacity Building & Supporting Learners 

  • 09.30: Digital Education for Universities: Capacity building for impact and nationwide change in Kenya (Denise Whitelock, Fereshte Goshtasbpour, Beck Pitt, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Cross and Olivier Biard, OU UK) 
  • 10.00: Introduction to Virtual Exchange and its benefits: a case study from the OU’s Online Confucius Institute (Mirjam Hauck, Qian Kan, Ligao Wu and Doris Hermann-Ostrowski, OU UK) 
  • 10.30: Comfort break
  • 10.45: Online professional development across European institutions and borders (Bart Rienties, OU UK)
  • 11.15: Energy digitisation and learning: who is interested and what do people want to learn about? (Irina Rets, Denise Whitelock, Leigh-Anne Perryman and Chris Edwards, OU UK)
  • 11.45: Lunch break
  • 13.30: Understanding student experience feedback of ethnic minority students with learning analytics (Thomas Ullman and Chris Edwards, OU UK)
  • 14.00: “It offers me a future, when I don’t have anything”: Perspectives from students from refugee backgrounds associated with the Open Futures Sanctuary Programme at the OU (Koula Charitonos, Neil Graffin, Marie Gillespie, Lidia Dancu, Ahmad Al-Rashid, Olwyn O’Malley, Shannon Martin, Fidele Mutwarasibo, Mahlea Babjak and Colin Wilding, OU UK)
  • 14.30: Comfort break
  • 14.45: The Complex Trajectories project (Chris Edwards, Bart Rienties, Simon Cross and Mark Gaved, OU UK)
  • 15.15: Creating emotionally supportive learning environments when undertaking assessed, online, group activities (Jake Hilliard, OU UK)
  • 15.45: Examining OU student satisfaction and barriers to taking remote online exams (Maria Aristeidou, Simon Cross, Carlton Wood and Klaus-Dieter Rossade, OU UK)
  • 16.15: Close

Session abstracts: https://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/CALRG/calrg-conference-29-june-2023/

Friday 30 June 2023: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Extended Reality (XR) and Learning Analytics 

  • 09.15: Solving Year 1 programming problems with AI assistants (Michel Wermelinger, OU UK)
  • 09.45: iSpot & AI: Integrating FASTCAT-Cloud and PI@ntNET-API in the Cos4Cloud framework (Citizen Science & AI Group: Chris Valentine, Mike Dodd, Janice Ansine, Stefan Rueger, Advaith Siddharthan, Damian Dadswell, OU UK)
  • 10.15: Comfort break
  • 10.30: Open XR Studios: What could immersive learning do for us? (Tyrrell Golding and Trevor Collins, OU UK)
  • 11.00: The potential of generative AI in education (John Domingue and AI module team, OU UK)
  • 11.30: Comfort break
  • 11.45: Open Skills Academy (OU Wales) (Rhys Daniels, OU Wales) 
  • 12.15: Ethical use of predictive learning analytics in distance education (Christothea Herodotou, Anna Gillespie and Irina Rets, OU UK) 
  • 12.45: Closing remarks and conference ends 

Session abstracts: https://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/CALRG/calrg-conference-30-june-2023/

Contacts and further information

The CALRG Conference 2023 organising team is: Hannah Clarkson, Fereshte Goshtasbpour, Kylie Matthews, Beck Pitt, Eileen Scanlon and the IET-Research team.

CALRG Conference 2023: Call for Papers

The CALRG logo

46th Computers and Learning Research Group Annual (Online) Conference: Call for Papers

** Submission deadline 24 May 2023 **

 We invite submissions for the 46th annual conference of the Computers and Learning Research Group (CALRG), to be held during 28, 29 and 30 June 2023. The conference will be held online, is open to all and free of charge.

CALRG is based in the Institute of Educational Technology (IET), The Open University (UK) and is one of the UK‘s leading research groups on the use of technologies in education. CALRG’s annual conference provides a forum for members, as well as other researchers and practitioners in the field, to present their work. We particularly encourage research students to submit proposals for the doctoral consortium and participate in the conference.

We invite proposals for our 2023 conference on a broad range of topics, including:

  • Hybrid learning
  • AI, ChatGPT and education
  • Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL)
  • Accessible online learning
  • Mobile learning
  • Effective designing for learning and learner experiences
  • Citizen science and public engagement
  • Learning analytics
  • Openness in education
  • Game-based learning
  • Professional learning
  • Widening access and participation in education with technology

 Submission Types

Type 1: Full presentation

Full presentations are designed for work that is mature or in the final stages of analysis.

To help showcase IET’s current work, we anticipate that all academic research projects will submit a proposal, where possible. We also welcome submissions from projects in openTEL, the wider university and beyond.

Full presentations will be allotted approx. 25-30 minutes, including 10 minutes for questions and discussion. Abstracts should be 250-300 words.

Type 2: Doctoral consortium

The CALRG conference’s doctoral consortium provides a supportive environment for PhD and EdD candidates to showcase their work. The doctoral consortium will feature a panel of experienced experts to provide guidance and encouragement.

Doctoral consortium sessions are allocated 30 minutes total. Presenters can decide how best to use the time and the ratio of feedback to presentation. Abstracts should be 250-300 words.

Type 3: Innovative / Wildcard

If you have a session idea that doesn’t fit into the full presentation or doctoral consortium format, we welcome your proposal! Abstracts should be 250-300 words.

Submission Guidance

  • Accepted abstracts for all submission types will be made available online.
  • With presenter permission, we will record conference sessions and release edited versions of these on IET’s YouTube channel.
  • The deadline for abstract submission is 12.00 noon (BST) on Wednesday 24 May 2023.
  • Submit your abstract to CALRG.
  • Following review, we will be in touch during w/c 5 June 2023 regarding your submission outcome.

Contacts and further information

The CALRG Conference 2023 organising team is: Hannah Clarkson, Fereshte Goshtasbpour, Kylie Matthews, Beck Pitt, Eileen Scanlon and the IET-Research team.