The goals of the 2023 Learning Sciences Graduate Student Conference (LSGSC) are to 1) build community across campuses and among graduate students and faculty and 2) engage with and iterate upon work that focuses on what it means to thrive in our constantly changing learning sciences community and world.

The learning sciences (plural) was established as an interdisciplinary field. As such, we invite participants from the broader range of programs, departments, and fields that study learning—including, but not limited to, cognitive science and computer science; communication studies and curriculum and instruction; human development and human-computer interaction; linguistics and Latinx studies; philosophy, policy, and physics. Also, while the conference is primarily intended for graduate students, we provide opportunities for undergraduate, postdoc, and faculty participation.

We anticipate 155 to 170 participants at this year’s conference. In the past, we have had between 90 and 140 participants.

Graduate students! The conference was originally envisioned and organized for the fall of 2016 as a regional event, coordinated by 2-3 learning sciences graduate students from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Indiana University, Northwestern University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vanderbilt University, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The host institution typically has paid for the costs of the conference. Additional graduate students at the host campus also help with organizing. 

This year’s conference was funded by The Univerity of Iowa’s College of Education, The Learning Sciences and Educational Psychology Progam, The Office of the Vice President for Research, The Delta Center, The Office of Teaching and Learning Technology, The Baker Teacher Leader Center, and the Education Technology Center.

The University of Illinois at Chicago hosted the inaugural conference in October 2016 and has occurred at a number of regional universities since, including virtual conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read proceedings from prior LSGSC events here.

This is not determined for sure but is currently in the works!