CFP: GSOLE 2025

Posted on by

Humans, Non-Humans, & Humanity Conference Overview

2025 GSOLE Conference Information
from https://gsole.org/2025-conference-cfp

Theme: Humans, Non-Humans, and Humanities

Dates: Asynchronous presentations will be available Saturday, February 1, 2025; Synchronous presentations will take place Thursday, February 6 and Friday, February 7, 2025

Format: The conference will take place asynchronously via the GSOLE website and synchronously via Zoom.

Questions for conference organizers? Email Kevin DePew at vice-president

The Global Society of Online Literacy Educators (GSOLE) invites proposals for its eighth annual online international conference. This event will be hosted online with the following schedule:

  • Asynchronous presentations open on Saturday, February 1, 2024
  • Synchronous presentations begin on Thursday, February 6, and Friday, February 7, 2025.

Online literacy education is an enduring and emerging field of practice and research. Our annual conference creates space for us to take stock of what we know, what we’ve learned, what has changed, and what remains the same. To that end, our conference aligns with GSOLE’s overarching mission and goals:

  • Promote literacy as the core of teaching and learning, no matter the delivery method-–online, hybrid, or face-to-face
  • Ensure that online literacy education is accessible and inclusive for all students and educators
  • Amplify voices of all online educators, regardless of department or disciplinary affiliation, including students and writing center and writing program staff
  • Foster discussions across cultures, environments, time zones, and disciplines

The growing prevalence of generative artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and robotics is changing how we learn and teach literacy. These emerging technologies raise questions about authorship, creativity, and the role of human educators in an AI-enhanced world. Moreover, many of the digital components of the communication technologies that students and instructors use for online literacy courses also shape interaction in social media spaces.

This year’s theme "Humans, Non-Humans, and Humanity" invites participants to explore the evolving dynamics between human beings, non-human entities, and the broader concept of humanity within the context of online literacy education. This theme encompasses a wide range of topics that explore how AI affords users the ability to act on feelings of goodwill–or on their fears, anxieties, and biases.

Topics of Interest

  1. Accessibility in Course and Assignment Design
  2. Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  3. Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) in Practice
  4. Global Teaching Practices and Instructional Design
  5. Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)
  6. Learning Management Systems (LMS)
  7. Ethical Considerations
  8. Programmatic Considerations
  9. Writing Centers or Studios
  10. Labor Issues
  11. Media and Digital Literacy

This list is not exhaustive. GSOLE wants to hear all voices. We invite questions and concerns to be addressed to Kevin DePew at vice-president.

Questions that might guide proposals in these topics include (but are not limited to):

  • How can administrators and teachers incorporate inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) principles into online literacy curricula, tutoring, and pedagogy?
  • What do we know about effective Online Literacy Instruction (OLI) and what has changed about our understanding of OLI?
  • As AI tools gain popularity, what do online administrators, instructors, tutors, and students need to know about using these tools in their writing, tutoring, and teaching?
  • How do online literacy instructors teach their students to be critical consumers of new digital technologies? How does one do this work through the technologies they are asking students to interrogate?
  • How does our understanding of effective OLI practices change depending on our local context, student population, educator population, or institutional identity? Additionally, how is OLI being practiced in non-North American countries?
  • In what ways do we need to reinvent writing instruction when we shift learning modalities and in what ways can we translate or adapt writing instruction across modalities?
  • What initial and ongoing professional development and institutional support systems do educators need as they teach and tutor online?
  • What innovative research and theories support online instructional and administrative practices?
  • What changes need to be made to online instructional labor to create more equitable OLI environments?

Presentation Format Options

Conference organizers welcome proposals for synchronous presentations (to be presented live, via Zoom during the conference on February 6 and 7, 2025) and asynchronous presentations (pre-recorded presentations that will be uploaded ahead of time and available to attendees beginning February 1, 2025).

As an international organization, we will do our best to accommodate reasonable presentation times for presenters from around the world.

Synchronous Presentation Options: Present Live During the Conference

Panel Proposals: We welcome 40-minute panel presentations (3–5 presenters).

Individual Paper Proposals: We welcome 15-minute individual presentations (placed on panels clustered by topic).

As an international organization, we will do our best to accommodate reasonable presentation times for participant presenters from around the world.

On Demand (Asynchronous) Presentation Options: 5- to 10-minute Pre-Recorded Presentations

Pre-Recorded Interactive Presentations: We welcome pre-recorded interactive presentations using digital tools like PlayPosit, Nearpod, and VoiceThread, to engage the audience in active learning as they watch your session.

Praxis Post(er)s: A Praxis Post(er) is a video presentation demonstrating a particular teaching practice or assignment in the virtual classroom or during online tutoring sessions.

ePortfolio Gallery Submissions: With attempts to spotlight voices and stories in OLI, this submission type invites educators with professional electronic websites to share video tours of their sites with the GSOLE community. Individuals who completed ePortfolio sites as part of the GSOLE certification program are especially encouraged to apply.

Depending on interest, GSOLE will host synchronous workshops and distribute resources assisting presenters in building these asynchronous presentations. Consultations are also available upon request. Please note the 5- to 10-minute length requirement on these formats, which is an important feature of presentation accessibility.

Submission Guidelines

Proposals should be prepared for anonymous review without authors’ names and institutional affiliations in the abstract. Where applicable, use anonymous descriptors to discuss institutional contexts and presenters (e.g., “large two-year college”; “English department at state university”; “WPA”; “adjunct faculty member”; etc.).

NOTE: Please submit no more than two proposals total. If submitting two proposals, they should be of different presentation formats.

Conference proposal writers are welcome to use Generative AI technologies, such as Copilot and ChatGPT, to assist in developing their proposals. However, you are still responsible for assessing any AI-generated content for accuracy and relevance to the GSOLE community. You should ensure the final submission reflects your ideas and work. While disclosure of AI assistance is not required, proper citation methods, such as those suggested by MLA or APA, can be used where applicable.

The proposal form asks prospective presenters for the following information:

  • The type of presentation.
  • The presentation’s title: For panel proposals, prepare one panel title; individual presenters may have their own titles, which may appear in the abstract.
  • Presenter(s) name and affiliation: For panel proposals, list all presenters.
  • The contexts of literacy education: K-12, general education, two-year college, university, technical/professional online education, OLI in the disciplines, graduate education, educator professional development, tutoring center, other.
  • An abstract for the presentation: The abstract is limited to 2800 characters (approximately 400 words). As noted above, omit identifying information in this section.

Those submitting an ePortfolio proposal should focus the abstract on what attendees will learn or gain from viewing your ePortfolio. This might include the types of artifacts you include, insight into OLI practice in your context, insight into your identity and experiences as an OLI practitioner, the specific ways your ePortfolio bridges theory and practice, etc. Please keep in mind your ePortfolio is being published in a public space, so you’ll want to ensure you are not violating copyright law or sharing student work without permission.

  • Identify which topics your presentation/panel discusses (select no more than two from the topic list above):

Click here to access the proposal form

Click here to access sample proposals

Proposal Scoring Rubric

Proposals will be assessed on the following criteria:

Relevance

When evaluating this criterion, consider the following questions to make an assessment:

  • Does the proposal align with OLI and/or the idea of Humans, Non-Humans, and Humanity? Is the proposal a good fit for our conference?
  • Does the proposal present ideas that are timely and relevant to current theory and practice of online literacy education?
  • Does the proposal have the potential to contribute to multiple literacy areas (writing, reading, digital)?
  • Does the proposal contextualize the work within the scholarly dialogue treating online literacy education?

Contribution

When evaluating this criterion, consider the following questions to make an assessment:

Focus

When evaluating this criterion, consider the following questions to make an assessment:

  • Does the proposal have a clear focus?
  • Does the proposal sufficiently explain the approach to the topic or a presentation plan?
  • Taking into consideration the proposed format, is the planned presentation appropriate and feasible? (Individual Papers will be 15 minutes each on panels of three; Praxis Post(er)s will be 5-7 minute pre-recorded presentations.)

Click here if you would like to see samples of past conference proposals