3rd Immersive Learning Research Network Conference (iLRN2017)
June 26th – 29, 2017
Coimbra, Portugal, European Union

Special Track on Participatory technology for the teaching of political science immersed in democratic practice

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Overview
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Democracy is a fundamental right (Paulo Bonavides, 2004) that presupposes people’s empowerment for the exercise of life in society. In order to effectively exercise their power in society, people must have access and be trained according to the most efficient available tools and means. The use of new technologies in teaching and research practices is assumed by governments and international agencies as an indispensable form of democratization and openness to society, and became a central topic in political science and political science education. The so-called new participatory technologies – e.g. the technologies used by researchers working on the ground, with the aim of solving population problems, and the immersive technologies used in academic collaborative work processes, simulating real work processes – are forms of direct engagement of people in matters of public interest and an effective exercise of citizenship. The immersive virtual environment technology, as a paradigmatic form of the participatory technology, can be used for the study of social interactions and the use of virtual humans in immersive virtual environments can advance research and application in political science and related disciplines. The objective of this special track is to produce new knowledge, from a broad and deep discussion based on concrete cases, among members of the educational, scientific, technological and governmental communities on the role of participatory technologies, in the context of immersive learning and activities. This initiative will be energized by professionals with extensive experience in the scientific and technological fields in order to promote a discussion on how we can design and develop immersive and engaging environments.

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Topics
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The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Political science education foundations;
Deliberative civic education in the political science real or virtual class-room;
Participatory technology, and its meaning and importance to political and social sciences;
Active learning in political science;
Development approaches to create different engaging experiences;
Innovative teaching cases: pedagogy, including strategies, games, and experiential learning (in what concerns design, technology and learning environments) in teaching political science to diverse audiences;

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Author Info
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All papers (including papers selected for Springer publication, Online Proceedings and poster submissions) must follow Springer’s style guidelines. Contributions are welcome as work-in- progress, research results, technical development, and best practices. Research, development, and best practices contributions will be accepted according to their quality and relevance either as full or short papers. Selected papers from the main conference and special tracks will be published in the Springer Proceedings, and the rest of the accepted papers will be published in the online proceedings with a confirmed ISBN number/reference. Work-in-progress will only be accepted as short papers.

Full papers accepted for Springer publication must not exceed of 14 pages.
Long papers accepted for publication at Online Proceedings must not exceed of 10-12 pages.
Short papers accepted for publication at Online Proceedings must not exceed of 6 – 8 pages.
Submitted papers must follow the same guidelines as the main conference submissions. Please visit https://immersivelrn.org/ilrn2017/author_info/ for guidelines and templates. For submitting a paper to this special track, please use the submission system https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ilrn2017 , log in with an account or register, and select the track “Special Track 4: Participatory technology for the teaching of political science immersed in democratic practice” to add your submission.

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Special Track Chairs
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- João C. R. Caetano, Universidade Aberta, Portugal
- Stephen M. Croucher, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland

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Program Committee (to be confirmed and extended)
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- Armando Marques Guedes, Nova University of Lisbon;
- Daniel Mill, University of Sao Carlos;
- Doris Allhutter, Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences;
- Francisco Proença Garcia, Portuguese Catholic University;
- John David Gerlach, Western Carolina University;
- José Álvaro Moisés, University of Sao Paulo;
- Paulo Ferreira da Cunha, University of Oporto;
- Theo Schiller, University of Marburg.

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Contact
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For more information, please contact João Caetano (Joao.Caetano@uab.pt).