The 17th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education and the 5th Annual Research in IT Conference will be hosted by University of Massachusetts Boston and will take place at the Hilton Boston Back Bay at 40 Dalton St near Fenway Park. Both conferences are sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group of Information Technology Education (SIGITE).

The dual conferences provide a forum for sharing and developing ideas relating to information technology research, education, applications, IT-industry-academia relationships, and our roles as professionals, educators, and advocates for the effective use of information technology.  This year is the fifth for the Research in IT conference, which aims to provide a venue for showcasing research in information technology that may or may not have a connection with teaching IT.  These two conferences will be co-located and tightly integrated so that participants can attend the sessions of both at no additional charge.

Theme

The theme of both conferences is “Securing Our Future.”  Since the time of the Revolutionary War, Boston has been involved in establishing a secure future for this country. While many people still think of the military aspect when it comes to security, as information technologists we know that the digital aspect is a growing threat for the future. Cyber security and information assurance are just two of the many topics that have become incredibly important. How do we develop software applications and hardware infrastructures that are dependable, resilient, and secure? We seek submissions that address ways for information technologists and information technology educators to enable a secure future, directly and through our students.

Submissions: Due May 15, 2016

All submissions should use the ACM templates: http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates. A PDF should be submitted for all types of submissions. Panel and workshop proposals should include author information. All other submissions (papers, lightning talks, and posters) 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 published proceedings.

A downloadable version of this Call for Participation can be accessed here.

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 engage the audience and 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 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.

Lightning talks

Lightning talks present work currently in progress and for which authors are actively seeking feedback or short curricular, pedagogical, or research techniques of interest to the SIGITE/RIIT communities.  Accepted lightning talks will be presented in a session in which each author is given 10 minutes to present the work and obtain feedback.  A one-page summary of the accepted lightning talks will be published in the conference proceedings.

Posters

Posters present work currently in progress and for which authors are actively seeking feedback.  A one-page summary of the accepted posters will be published in the conference proceedings.

Other Information

Exhibits

Booths, opportunities for presentations, and/or space in the program will be made available to publishers, software houses, and other interested vendors who wish to sponsor SIGITE 2016 and RIIT 2016.  Interested parties are invited to contact the sponsorship chair Tom Ayers (tayers@broward.edu) for more information about exhibiting at or sponsoring the conference.

Students

Students are encouraged to present papers at either conference.  SIGITE will cover the conference registration and provide $200 toward expenses of attending the conference for the first 10 accepted student papers.  Female students may apply for additional funding from the ACM-W organization, with the application procedure described here: http://women.acm.org/scholarship.