Welcome to ACM SAC - Web-based Technologies for Interactive Computing Education Track

There is growing global realization that computer and information literacy is a basic and essential educational component needed to maintain a competitive edge in a global economy. Computational thinking, on the other hand, has emerged as a key component for K-12 and college STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education and has been recognized as the gateway to information technology innovation. More recently, governments and policy apparatuses have also begun to appreciate the difference between the use of information and communication technology and computational literacy, and the role such competencies can play in the economy. Thus, across the globe, new educational policies not only emphasize inclusion and promotion of computational thinking, they have also invested heavily, and the payoff is becoming visible.

The quest for an intelligent tutoring system to aid self- and free-choice learning to be able to mimic a human instructor is not new. It remains an open problem even though several smart systems are making headway. Some of these systems have started using novel techniques for improved learning experiences. Speech technology, animation and simulations, blended tutoring and real-time assessment, learning style prediction, adaptive tutoring strategies and various other techniques are being assimilated into intelligent tutoring systems moving toward creating ever smarter online robotic tutors, called conversational intelligent tutoring system. This track aims to encourage and foster new models for CITS for computing instruction delivery, tutoring over the web. In particular, we aim to offer a platform for cross fertilization of ideas from the communities of computer scientists and educational technologists toward developing smart web-based technologies and platforms for computing education.

We are pleased to solicit original, unpublished and novel papers for publication and presentation in The 34th SIGAPP ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC) Track on Web-based Technologies for Interactive Computing Education. Articles describing novel ideas and applications in all areas of educational technology for computing education are of interest, including the following (non-exclusive):

1. Personalized and Adaptive Learning
2. Computer Support for Intelligent Tutoring
3. Intelligent Tools for Visual Learning
4. Personal Learning Environments
5. Massive Open Online Courses
6. Computer Supported Collaborative Learning
7. Learning Analytics
8. Human Factors and Affective Computing for Learning
9. E-Learning Platforms and Tools
10. Design, Model and Framework of e-Learning Systems
11. Assessment in e-learning
12. Conversational Intelligent Tutoring Systems
13. Web-based and online learning systems
14. Open issues

2019 ACM SAC Web-based Technologies for Interactive Computing Education (WICE) Track will be held at Limassol, Cyprus on April 8-12, 2019. We hope to accept quality papers and offer a stimulating platform for the exchange of ideas and disseminating cutting edge research to the community. The 2019 ACM SAC WICE Track will be the first such event in the 34 years of ACM SAC tradition.

The ACM Symposium on Applied Computing is recognized as a primary forum for applied computer scientists and application developers from around the world to interact and present their work. SAC 2018 is sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Applied Computing (SIGAPP) and is presented in cooperation with other ACM Special Interest Groups. For more information on ACM SAC 2018, please visit ACM SAC 2019.

All enquiries and questions should be directed to the Track Chairs. Additional details are available on the track home page at the WICE Track.

Paper Submission and Publication

Original and unpublished papers are solicited for this track. The file format should be in PDF. The author(s) name(s) and address(es) must not appear in the body of the paper, and self-reference should be in the third person. This is to facilitate double blind review. Only the title should be shown at the first page without the author's information. Papers must be formatted according to the template which is available at the SAC 2019 website at ACM Publication Proceedings Templates.

Paper size is limited to 8 pages in the ACM proceedings template, and at most 2 extra pages are allowed at an additional cost of $80 US per page. A few key words should be provided. Posters are limited to 3 pages with the option for an additional page at $80 US. A paper cannot be sent to more than one track. Original manuscripts should be submitted in electronic format via SAC 2018 web site at ACM SAC 2019 Paper Submission Page.

All papers will be fully refereed and undergo a double blind review process by at least three referees. The conference proceedings will be published by ACM.

Paper registration is required, allowing the inclusion of the paper, poster, or SRC abstracts in the conference proceedings. An author or a proxy attending SAC MUST present the paper. This is a requirement for including the work in the ACM/IEEE digital library. No-show of registered papers, posters, and SRC abstracts will result in excluding them from the ACM/IEEE digital library.

Poster Publication of Selected Papers: A set of selected papers will be accepted as poster papers by invitation only and will be published as short papers in the symposium proceedings.

Student Research Competition (SRC) Program

Graduate students are invited to submit research 2 page abstracts (extra pages are not allowed) using the ACM template. Submission of the same abstract to multiple tracks is not allowed. All research abstract submissions will be reviewed by expert reviewers and practitioners. Authors of selected abstracts will have the opportunity to present their posters and compete for three top-winning places. The SRC committee will evaluate and select the first-, second-, and third-place winners. The winners will receive medals and cash awards. Winners will be announced during the conference banquet. Authors of selected abstracts are eligible to apply to the SIGAPP Student Travel Award program for financial support. Please submit your SRC abstracts here.

Program Committee

Phil Benachour, Lancaster University, UK

Mei-Hwa Chen, University of Albany, USA

Rita Kuo, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, USA

Aparna Lalingkar, IIIT Bangalore, India

Oscar Lin, Athabasca University, Canada

Murali Mani, University of Michigan - Flint, USA

Hossain Shahriar, Kennesaw State University, USA

Ahmed Tlili, University of Tunis, Tunisia

Li Wang, National Open University, China

Seng Yue Wong, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Haoran Xie, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong