The 1st International Conference on Learning and Collaboration Technologies was completed with great success. The conference was part of 16th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI International 2014), which was held at the Convention Center of Creta Maris hotel, Hersonissos, Heraklion, Crete, from June 22nd to 27th, 2014.
The HCI International is one of the largest international and interdisciplinary conferences in information and communication technologies. This year the conference attracted approximately 2,000 participants from 67 countries, coming from the academic and research community as well as professionals from the field of Information Technology and Telecommunications who presented original scientific papers and technological advances that were exposed in the exhibition area of the Conference.
The conference program included two thematic areas: “Human-Computer Interaction” and “Human Interface and Management of Information” as well as 12 conferences affiliated with HCII 2014. One of these conferences was the 1st International Conference Learning and Collaboration Technologies organized with active involvement of the Cyprus Interaction Lab of the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts at the Cyprus University of Technology. Chairs of the Learning and Collaboration Technologies conference were Professor Panayiotis Zaphiris and Lecturer Andri Ioannou.
In today’s knowledge society, learning and collaboration are two fundamental and interrelated aspects of knowledge acquisition and creation. Learning technologies include a wide range of communication technologies that may be used to support learning, teaching and assessment of knowledge. On the other hand, collaboration technologies are designed to support people working in teams towards a common goal, by providing tools that support communication, management of activities, and problem solving processes. In this context, interactive technologies not only contribute to the improvement of the existing educational system, but become a transformative force that creates new ways of knowing, learning and collaborating.
Apart from organizing the conference, academics, researchers and doctoral students of the Cyprus Interaction Lab had the opportunity to present their research work of the Lab.
The conference proceedings are published by Springer: http://hcii2014.org/proceedings