CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST TO HOST mLearn2019:

THE 18th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IAmLearn, TO BE HELD IN 2019

The International Association for Mobile Learning (IAmLearn) is seeking Expressions of Interest to host the mLearn conference in 2019. mLearn is the leading annual international conference for researchers, policy makers, educators, developers and solutions providers in the fields of mobile, ubiquitous and contextual learning and learning with emerging ambient technologies. It attracts participants from more than 60 countries.

The benefits of hosting an mLearn conference

• The hosting institution, or consortium, and the lead academics will benefit from the prestige attached to organising the premier international conference in an exciting and rapidly growing field.
• mLearn 2002 was the first international mobile learning conference and the series continues to provide the leading annual event with worldwide reach, attracting key players in the field and delivering high academic quality, whilst also being attractive to education and training practitioners and industry.
• mLearn is the only conference endorsed by the International Association for Mobile Learning (IAmLearn), a membership association which promotes excellence in research, development and application of mobile and contextual learning.
• The mLearn conference series has an established relationship with the official journal of IAmLearn, the International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning (IJMBL). This is the leading journal in mobile learning, indexed in Scopus and PsycINFO and included in the ACM digital library. In line with established practice, organisers can anticipate a peer-reviewed Special Issue coming out of the conference, thus incentivising academic contributions.
• mLearn offers unique opportunities for networking with key academic and commercial contacts.

The responsibilities

Working in cooperation with IAmLearn, the host organisation will take responsibility of chairing the conference for the local administration.
IAmLearn will take responsibility for the conference programme, the paper submission and review process, and the online registration process.

Guidelines for Expressions of Interest

Expressions of interest should be submitted to IAmLearn Vice President Professor Herman van der Merwe by email at Herman.vanderMerwe@nwu.ac.za by the 28th of September 2018. The Expressions of Interest will be assessed by the IAmLearn Executive Committee and the successful consortium will be notified by 12 October 2018.

The Expression of Interest should briefly describe each of the following (3 pages max please):

• The envisaged scope and theme(s) of the conference
• The rationale for hosting the conference in your country
• The organisation/s which will be responsible for hosting the conference and their previous experience of organising international academic conferences (consortia should include at least one university)
• The conference chair and the leading academics to be involved
• The venue, facilities and technical support available
• The envisaged budget, including a break-even analysis
• The envisaged sponsorships and companies that will be targeted for sponsorships
• Ideas for extending the reach of the conference, for example any fee-paying on-line access to the conference giving remote presenters presentation and publication opportunities
• The expected arrangements for conference management and organisation
• How delegates from around the world will be attracted, including delegates from the developer, practitioner, commercial and policy communities, and details of any identified or potential sponsors or endorsements.
• The approximate dates on which you wish to host the conference (mLearn usually takes place in a date range between mid-October to mid-November each year)
• Any additional information of importance

The mLearn 2019 conference will add to the findings, knowledge sharing and community building of all the preceding conferences held in: Birmingham, London, Rome, Cape Town, Banff, Melbourne, Telford, Florida, Malta, Beijing, Helsinki, Doha, Istanbul, the Mediterranean, Sydney, Cyprus and the forthcoming conference in Chicago (11 – 14 November 2018) – see http://iamlearn.org/mlearn/ or http://iamlearn.org/iamlearn/publications/conference-proceedings/ for archived proceedings for some of these conferences (towards the bottom of the page).

Interested parties are welcome to contact me by email for informal discussion in advance of their submission.

Herman van der Merwe
Vice President, International Association for Mobile Learning