*submission deadline extended to July 31st*

The workshop on Designing and Facilitating Educational Location-based Applications (DELbA 2020) will be organized as part of the EC-TEL 2020 conference and will be held online on September 15th 2020.
Introduction

Mobile devices and mobile internet are the prerequisites for location-based apps, which interpret the current location for providing position-sensitive information. In form of games, location-based apps are extremely popular. For example, 2013 Ingress generated a hype that was surpassed by 2016 Pokémon GO with an even larger player base. Other forms of location-based apps include AR browsers like Wikitude and digital tour apps like ARIS or PlayVisit. From a didactical perspective, location-based apps have a number of characteristics that make their use as learning tools very appealing: location-based apps guide learners to real objects on location and supplement these objects with information to be learned. For example, the contiguity principle is one of the principles of Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning supported: learning effects are reinforced by the temporal and/or spatial combination of object and information. Further principles of multimedia learning, such as signaling (i.e. the insertion of additional clues) can also be implemented with the help of location-based apps. Additionally, location-based apps may also serve as social interaction triggers for collaborative learning settings, such as the joint development of learning content in groups or for making decisions and achieving goals as a team.

This workshop addresses the benefits of location-based apps for educational purposes in general and is a continuation of workshops held in Vienna, Austria at IFIP-ICEC 2016 and in Arequipa, Peru at IFIP-ICEC/JCSG 2019. Whereas the previous workshops focused on serious location-based games, this workshop intends to foster a more general discourse on the specific contexts in which location-based apps are most valuable learning tools, based on the debate of mobile and context-based learning. Further, we would like to outline design guidelines that ensure a balance between educational purpose and technical content when developing and using location-based apps. Also, inclusive design plays a key role in enabling users with disabilities to location-based app experiences.
Workshop objectives

Educational location-based apps (ELAs) have a high potential as learning tools amongst others owing to the low implementation effort required, to the considerable learning success achievable and to the enormous commitment being fostered among the learners. However, usage of ELAs in formal education and informal education still falls far short of the possibilities. This workshop should contribute to bringing the topic of location-based apps for educational purposes further into focus.

Thus, the workshop aims at exploiting the undisputed potential of ELAs by

bringing together stakeholders from the research community to share their insights
on barriers and opportunities to take up
on presenting application and development of ELAs and their integration in formal and informal education
discussing how the identified challenges can be jointly addressed, and what we can learn from each other’s experiences.

Workshop topics

Topics of interest regarding educational location-based apps (ELAs) include, but are not limited to:

Design frameworks for ELAs
Lessons learnt from ELA usages
Reuse of entertainment location-based games in serious application contexts
Characterization of ELA application contexts
Characterization of ELA applications
Design of inclusive ELAs
Guidelines for the design of didactic scenarios using ELAs
Assessment of didactic scenarios using ELAs and integration into existing learning curricula and learning infrastructure
Case studies of ELAs
Case studies of ELA application fields, such as urban planning
Content provision for ELAs
Analyses of location-based game mechanics and their transfer to game-based ELAs
Technical infrastructure for ELAs
Multi-learner scenarios and their interaction rules
Gamification of ELAs
Learning patterns in ELA-driven social contexts
Ethical issues of ELA games

All submissions will undergo a thorough peer-review process by the workshop program committee. At least one author of each accepted submission has to register and present at the ECTEL 2020 workshop due to the ECTEL 2020 conference and workshop regulation rules. All accepted submissions will be published as workshop proceedings with CEUR Workshop Proceedings. Selected submissions will be invited to submit an extended version to an article collection of Frontiers in Education.
Submission Information

Papers must be submitted in the Springer LNCS format. All submissions must be written in English and be submitted via EasyChair ( https://easychair.org/conferences/submission_new.cgi?a=22316072 ). As submissions are either short papers (5-9 pages) or long papers (10-12 pages) welcomed. Attendance at the workshop is certainly also possible without submitting an own submission, however requires registration according to the ECTEL 2020 conference and workshop regualtion rules.