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Call for papers

Submissions open January 31st, 2020 and close June 1st, 2020.

The 21st ACM Annual Conference on Information Technology Education (SIGITE 2020) will be hosted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and will take place at the Scott Conference Center on the UNO campus, October 7-9, 2020. The conference is sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGITE). The conference provides a forum for sharing and developing ideas relating to Information Technology (IT) research, education, applications, IT industry-academia relationships, and our roles as professionals, educators, teachers, and advocates for the effective use of information technology. IT as a professional endeavor is influenced by multiple disciplines – computer science, information systems, management science, cognitive science, psychology, learning, and much more.  Consequently, educators at all levels (secondary school through University) have to deal with challenges of emergent areas of study such as IT innovation, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Human Machine Interaction (HMI), Cybersecurity, Agile Software Engineering, Social Informatics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and much more.

About The University of Nebraska at Omaha

Within the College of Information Science & Technology (IS&T) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), there are currently 1,300 IT students across five majors at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The college offers a number of dual enrollment programs at local high schools and has articulated pathways for community college students to move from associate to bachelor’s degrees. Additionally, the college has a unique computer science teacher education graduate degree and certificate in partnership with the UNO College of Education, and a myriad of other initiatives that closely connect the University to the K-12 and business community.

Conference Theme

The theme of the 21st ACM Annual Conference on Information Technology Education will be "Technology on a Human Scale". The emergence of AI/ML, Robotics, Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things (IoT, human-centered computing, cloud/grid/ubiquitous computing, big data, and smart communities, coupled with the maturing of online education, code schools, and disruptive stackable education models, has introduced opportunities and new challenges for educating the workforce of tomorrow. Hence, the aim of this conference is to highlight how information technology education and practice in all its forms is being impacted and transformed for the future.  Consequently, all topics relating to these areas are welcome. For submissions identified under the conference theme, we particularly invite authors who reflect upon the impact of automation and the potential central role of human-centered computing in education, research and practice.

Submissions

All submissions will be made electronically and should use the ACM template. A PDF or Word document should be submitted for all types of submissions. All submissions can be electronically uploaded here to the EasyChair service.

Panel and workshop proposals should include author information, while all other submissions (papers, extended abstracts, and big ideas) should be anonymous, with all author information removed. Submissions must adhere to the page limits described below, and submissions that exceed the limits will be rejected without review. Authors must register for and attend the conference as specified below in order for their work to appear in the conference proceedings.

Papers

Submissions will be no longer than six double-column pages and will undergo a blind peer reviewing process. Authors will have approximately 30 minutes for their presentation, including the question and answer period. Accepted papers must be presented by at least one author and will be published in the conference proceedings.

Panels

Panels allow experts to discuss a current topic of interest in IT education or research. Panel organizers are responsible for selecting appropriate panelists to participate. A panel will normally have at most four panelists including the organizer. Panel submissions should include a list of panelists, their affiliations, a description of the topics, and a brief position statement from each panelist. All panelists are expected to attend the conference and participate in the panel. Panel proposals are limited to two pages and will be published in the conference proceedings.

Workshops

Workshops allow presenters to provide a tutorial or hands-on exploration of a topic in which attendees are expected to actively participate. The workshop proposer is required to attend the conference. Workshop proposals are limited to two pages and will be published in the conference proceedings.

Big Ideas in IT Education

Participants are invited to prepare big idea talks that present works that attempt to challenge traditional thinking and/or wherein authors are actively seeking feedback  from the SIGITE community. Accepted talks will be presented in a session where each author is given 10 minutes to present their big idea including feedback. Big idea talk proposals are limited to one page. Accepted talks will be published in the conference proceedings.

Extended Abstracts

Manuscripts considered Work in Progress (WiP) can be submitted as an extended abstract (maximum one page). Extended abstracts will be reviewed by the program committee for inclusion in the conference proceedings and will be presented as posters during the conference itself. We especially encourage submissions from MS and PhD students who would like feedback on their research efforts. Authors of accepted abstracts will be asked to present their ideas in the form of a poster using the following guidelines.

  • Poster size should be 48” x 36” or less.
  • Author(s) name(s), institution(s) and funding source(s) should appear on the poster.
  • The title should be properly capitalized with a minimum font size of 80 points.
  • The text should be written with a minimum font size of 18 points.

Authors are encouraged to use a poster template. We recommend the template found at the following url: https://osf.io/6ua4k/.

Boards and easels will be provided during the conference.

SPECIAL TOPIC TRACKS

This year, the conference will feature two special topic tracks:

  1. A teacher experience track that focuses on the experiences of K-12 and community college teachers’ experiences with teaching IT subjects. This track would require the submission of a one page extended abstract on the topic and will be peer-reviewed. Authors will have approximately 30 minutes for their presentation, including the question and answer period. These papers will follow the “Extended Abstracts” submission guidelines.
  2. An IT research track in all areas of interest to the SIGITE community with particular emphasis on the conference themes and IT education. These submissions may be “Work in Progress (WiP) or Completed Research (CR). Completed research (CR) papers will follow the “Paper” submission guidelines. WiP papers will follow the “Extended Abstracts” submission guidelines.

Other Information

Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions (BOFs)

Join colleagues at a designated time during the conference to discuss hot topics in an informal setting. You will be able to network and exchange ideas, insights, and experiences. You can establish a new topic by notifying us in advance. To set this up, please contact the local arrangements chair at tesetor@unomaha.edu. 

Exhibits

Booths, opportunities for presentations, and/or space in the program will be made available to publishers, software houses, corporate supporters, and other interested vendors who wish to sponsor SIGITE 2020. Interested parties are invited to review the “Supporters” page on the conference website for detailed instructions.

Student Sponsorships

Students are encouraged to present papers at the conference. The program committee will evaluate all student submissions and will provide full conference registration to the top ten (10) student submissions. Awarded students will be expected to serve as volunteers at the conference. If you would like to apply for this stipend, please notify the program chairs with the following information:

  • Name
  • Institution
  • Degree being pursued
  • Role in the paper and conference
  • Coauthor(s)

Scholarships for Women

ACM-W provides support for women undergraduate and graduate students in Computer Science and related programs to attend research conferences.  Please apply at the ACM-W website here - http://women.acm.org/scholarship.

Contact information

For questions about submissions, please contact one of the program chairs: George Grispos (ggrispos@unomaha.edu) or Harvey Siy (hsiy@unomaha.edu)

For questions about the conference location, sponsorships or logistics, please contact the conference general chair: Deepak Khazanchi (khazanchi@unomaha.edu)