Call for Abstracts

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Education Data Science Conference + Special Issue

Mission & Scope

Researchers are increasingly capturing rich, synchronized data from classrooms, schools, and education systems – including text, audio, video, gesture, biometric signals, and large administrative datasets – to gain a more holistic understanding of teaching, learning, and the broader conditions that support them. Generative AI has made those data seem immediately actionable: large language models (LLMs) can summarize teacher-student discourse, draft rubric-aligned insights, and increasingly interpret multimodal signals. Yet, the same tools also surface unresolved questions about validity, bias, and pedagogical judgment. Educational data science is therefore shifting from demonstrating what is technically possible to a much-needed effort to gather evidence and evaluation around trustworthy and effective tools, instructional practices, and policies.

In light of these developments, the goal of our upcoming Educational Data Science conference is to showcase cutting-edge research while explicitly addressing the emerging gaps in the field. Contributions might include measurement and construct validation, design-based or research-practice-partnership studies, and transparent pipelines that support reproducibility (data documentation, code release, and pre-analysis plans where feasible). We especially welcome studies that pair LLM-enabled and multimodal analytics with rigorous quantitative or mixed-methods designs to explain mechanisms, handle domain shift, and validate effects in the wild. We also welcome field-shaping contributions—conceptual syntheses, position papers, and roadmaps—that interrogate and articulate the mission of education data science: which problems to prioritize, what counts as credible evidence across contexts, how to balance innovation with governance, and how to institutionalize equitable research–practice collaboration and reproducible standards, and how to train the next generation of education data science researchers.

We especially encourage work that pushes the frontier in one or more of the following overarching themes:

1. Bridging Research and Practice in Education Data Science – Engaging educators, school leaders, and policymakers in the design and use of data-science tools, and defining context-appropriate evidence that can inform both instructional practice and the organizational or policy decisions that shape it.
2. Multimodal Data and Advanced Analytics – Harnessing data from multiple sources (e.g., text, audio, video, interaction logs, sensors, large administrative datasets) and combining thoughtful manual annotation with state-of-the-art AI/ML techniques (including LLMs and computer vision) to gain deeper insights into learning processes and outcomes.
3. Scaling and Transferability – Connecting small-scale innovations to large-scale systems (e.g., translating a successful classroom intervention to district or platform level), and promoting open, reproducible research that enables findings to be validated and built upon by the community.
4. Equity, Ethics, and Inclusivity – Addressing bias, fairness, and privacy in educational data science applications; integrating mixed-methods and “small data” approaches to ensure nuanced understanding; and incorporating a focus on underserved communities and global perspectives to make sure data-driven solutions are inclusive and culturally informed.
    

We prioritize work that builds privacy, transparency, fairness, and student/teacher agency into data science systems from the outset; proposes actionable safeguards; and extends EDS beyond well-resourced, English-dominant contexts to global, under-resourced and data-sparse settings. Evidence standards should be explicit, context-appropriate, and attentive to uncertainty. Papers from all fields are welcome, and interdisciplinary collaborations are highly encouraged. By bringing together diverse researchers and practitioners, this event aims to chart an inclusive and forward-looking agenda for educational data science – one that not only advances cutting-edge methods, but also enriches educational theory, improves practice, and upholds our ethical responsibilities to learners worldwide.

Timeline

1) Short Abstract + Extended Summary

• A 100-250 word abstract
• An extended summary (600-1000 words) detailing the aims, methodology, findings, and theoretical and educational significance of the research. Can include figure(s) and references.

2) Special-Issue Full Paper (by invitation)

Authors of selected conference abstracts will be invited to submit a full manuscript for consideration in a special issue at AERA Open. These papers will undergo formal external peer review in accordance with standard scholarly practices; acceptance to the conference does not guarantee acceptance by the journal.

Best Submission Prizes

We are pleased to announce two Best Submission Awards for this conference: a $1,000 prize for the Best Student Submission and a $1,000 prize for the Best General Submission. All accepted submissions are eligible, and awards will be selected by an interdisciplinary review committee based on originality, methodological rigor, and contribution to the field.

Important Dates
 

Formatting & Submission

• Submit via the conference portal (PDF).
• Remove identifying information for double-blind review.
• Please add a sentence to discuss reproducibility and privacy.

Questions

For scope/fit, accessibility, or submission logistics, contact the organizing committee at edsconference26@gmail.com