Call for Chapters: Assessing the Effectiveness of Virtual Technologies in Foreign and Second Language Instruction

Editor
Mariusz Kruk (University of Zielona Góra, Poland)

https://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/3054

Proposals Submission Deadline: January 30, 2018
Full Chapters Due: April 30, 2018
Submission Date: August 30, 2018

INTRODUCTION

Over the last few years there has been a quite specific interest in using virtual technologies in education, including foreign/second language education. This is because virtual technologies, such as virtual worlds, are particularly relevant to language teaching/learning in view of the fact that, among other things, they present language learners with situations similar to these found in the real world; they can lower the affective filter by engaging students in situations where their fears are bypassed; they offer opportunities to communicate in a target language by means of text/voice about their features, problem solving, language, etc. Thus, language learners can develop metacognitive and metalinguistic skills and they can practice the language by interacting with virtual users or objects, a very important issue for language learners who have no or little contact with native or target language speakers.… read more. “Call: Assessing the Effectiveness of Virtual Technologies in Foreign and Second Language Instruction (book chapters)”

Call for Papers

International Journal of Social Robotics
Special Issue: The Mutual Shaping of Human-Robot Interaction
Submission deadline: January 31, 2018

TOPIC OVERVIEW

The field of robotics has rapidly advanced over the last decades and has shown great promises in different fields. Robots were introduced in industry decades ago, and nowadays, robotic systems support humans as assistants, team-mates, caretakers, and companions, in diverse contexts such as education, health and eldercare, the home, retail, and in search and rescue. Discussions of the emotional, psychological, ethical, and societal consequences of these developments have emerged alongside technical advances.

Studies in human-robot interaction have shown that, when robots enter different contexts of our everyday lives, they influence and change those contexts beyond their intended use purpose alone. Social scientists have referred to this process as “mutual shaping” of technology and society. Mutual shaping implies that technological and societal developments do not proceed in parallel, or in a linear progression from technological development to societal application, but rather that technology and society continuously influence and (re)shape each other.… read more. “Call: The Mutual Shaping of Human-Robot Interaction – International Journal of Social Robotics issue”

Call for Papers

Post-cinema – VR and AR: a Postcinematic Modernity II
Film Forum – XVI Magis International Film Studies Spring School
Gorizia, Università degli studi di Udine-Italy
March 3rd-7th 2018

Deadline for 1-page proposals: November 30th, 2017

Address questions and proposals to: (goriziafilmforum /at/ gmail.com)

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), as well as establishing new identities and expanding the perceptions of existing users and the technologies they use, also represent two cardinal points in the (re)definition of participative and political practices in current media landscape. In this sense the Postcinema section would like to explore the “community/knowledge/power” relationship and the “community/history/truth” relationship in the production and diffusion of certain “media products”, in particular the VR and AR ones. The 2018 Post Cinema section of the Magis Spring School takes into considerations proposals in the following fields:

• Literacy and socio-economic accessibility linked to VR and AR in the new media (eg, the difficult access to the interfaces of VR gaming or the rapport with the casual gaming)
• The creation of social communities linked to the collective use of products specially created for their use through VR and AR devices.

Call for Papers

What’s Next? The Future of Digital Entertainment
A Special Issue of Communication Research Reports
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12xLQnZftTONP7oE6OktwZHulBN0caFNN_OjLUynDjPQ/mobilebasic

Guest Editors:
Allison Eden (Michigan State University)
Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn (University of Georgia)

Editor-in-Chief
Nicholas D. Bowman (West Virginia University)

Priority submission deadline: January 15, 2018

In the past years, with the advent of technology such as streaming media services, combined with market penetration of smartphones, tablets, and highly interactive platforms, such as immersive virtual environments (popularly known as “virtual reality”) and augmented reality, there has been a dramatic uptick in the number of hours per day we spend with digital media. A good portion of this time is solely devoted to entertainment, or as Zillmann and Bryant put it, “any activity to delight and, to a smaller degree, enlighten through the exhibition of the fortunes or misfortunes of others, but also through the display of special skills by the other and/or self” (1994, p.… read more. “Call: What’s Next? The Future of Digital Entertainment – Communication Research Reports special issue”