3rd International Symposium on Digital Transformation
The third annual International Symposium on Digital Transformation will again be hosted by Linnaeus University in Växjö, Sweden after two successful events in 2022 and 2023. Organized by LNU’s Digital Transformations Knowledge Environment, the event welcomes participants from around the world to present and engage with different possibilities, current efforts and rising trends in the emerging field of Digital Transformation.
Please note: Registration is now open and will close on August 28. Please see the link below.
In 2024, the symposium will concentrate on the following themes:
- Collaborative approaches to digital transformation with a demonstrated liaison between academia, the public and private sectors.
- Engagement with digital transformation by combining methodologies and theoretical approaches from different disciplines.
- Examples of digital transformation.
- Ethical implications of digital transformation.
We see the following research areas as highly relevant to these four themes:
- Digital learning & the digitalization of education
- Digital health
- Digital Humanities
- Artificial Intelligence and its applications
- Digital business
- Digital working life
We welcome abstracts clearly related to any of the above research areas, in addition to abstracts that might not specifically fall within these areas (a general track).
Please submit an abstract of 500–1000 words online by 14 June 2024. All abstracts will undergo a double-anonymous peer review. We encourage submissions from postgraduate students, early career researchers, senior researchers and practitioners from both industry and the public sector.
The symposium will take place on 11–13 September in Växjö, Sweden. The majority of conference events will be on the first two days, with an optional event on 13 September. Participants may attend in person or online, there will no be registration fees regardless of the mode of attendance.
The symposium will be held both online and on campus.
For questions and information about the symposium, please contact project manager Emily Hanscam.
More information about the 1st International Symposium on Digital Transformation
More information about the 2st International Symposium on Digital Transformation
Keynote speakers
Hendrik Drachsler
Hendrik Drachsler is a professor of Educational Technologies and Learning Analytics at the German Leibniz Institute for Educational Research and Educational Information (dipf.de) and the Department of Computer Science at Goethe University Frankfurt. Additionally, he is the director of the central innovation unit for technology-supported learning (studiumdigitale) at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. His research interests include Learning Analytics, Learning Design, AI in Education, Assessment & Feedback, and the impacts of these areas on learners, organizations, and associated societal challenges.
In the past, he was a board member of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) and a member of the board of the European Association of Technology-Enhanced Learning (EATEL). He is the Principal Investigator of various national and European research projects, including the AI projects IMPACT, HIKOF, AFLEK, and ALI, which investigate the application of Learning Analytics and AI in teaching. Prof. Dr. Drachsler has led various international scientific conferences (e.g., LAK16, ECTEL17, EC-TEL18, LAK2020), is a Special Issue Editor of the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (JCAL), and has published numerous scientific publications on his research topics.
Title of the speech: Highly-Informative Learning Analytics
Abstract - In his keynote, Professor Drachsler will present his current research program on Highly-Informative Learning Analytics (HILA). This includes a critical examination of how current Learning Analytics and AI applications can adequately and meaningfully address the information needs of learners. He will explain his perspective on Highly-Informative Learning Analytics, developed in collaboration with interdisciplinary experts from the fields of psychometrics, feedback theory, and learning design, and which he investigates in experimental intervention studies in higher education and school contexts.
The research program has developed the HILA manufactory, an evidence-based design methodology to develop Data-Enriched Learning Activities (DeLA). The DeLAs are directly applicable in education practice and serve as a source for collecting relevant data to generate HILA feedback. The DeLAs are characterized by their extreme flexibility, being applicable to a variety of learning scenarios across different disciplines. On the other hand, they offer stable conditions suitable for exploring facilitative and hindering factors of HILA application under ecologically valid conditions in various contexts. The goal of the HILA research program is to build an evidence-based knowledge base on the conditions of AI applications. Professor Drachsler will conclude his lecture with an in-depth analysis of the societal, technological, and pedagogical challenges associated with the implementation of HILA.
Related links:
• DIPF EduTec Team: www.edutec.science/
• Studiumdigitale Team: blog.studiumdigitale.uni-frankfurt.de/sd/
Trine Jensen
As Manager, HE & Digital Transformation, Trine Jensen leads the work on the strategic priority Digital Transformation at the International Association of Universities (IAU). She is spearheading projects spanning policy-shaping, strategy, advocacy, and monitoring of the digital transformation of HE with partners globally. She is the author of several IAU Global Monitoring Reports, both on Higher Education in the Digital Era: the Current State of Transformation around the World (2020) and on the impact of the pandemic on higher education (2020 and 2022). In collaboration with an International Expert Advisory Group, she crafted the IAU Policy Statement: “Transforming Higher Education for the Global Common Good in a Digital World”.
She furthermore coordinates multiple projects and leads the IAU site visit programme fostering international peer-to-peer learning in relation to digital transformation of higher education institutions. In addition, she is the editor of the Association’s magazine IAU Horizons. Trine Jensen worked for several years at UNESCO as part of the Bureau for Strategic Planning before she joined the IAU in 2012.
Title of the speech: The current state of digital transformation within higher education from a global perspective
Abstract - Digital transformation within higher education has been moving rapidly over recent years, and universities are constantly faced with the need to review and assess the impact of new technologies on higher education. The International Association of Universities (IAU) has been conducting regular global surveys in order to keep abreast of trends in higher education, and this presentation will outline the key findings from the 2024 IAU Global Survey on the State of Digital Transformation of Higher Education. I will look at the current state of digital transformation, discussing prevailing trends and regional differences, and look at trends in teaching and learning, research and institutional governance in order to highlight the varying levels of readiness, and identify possibilities and challenges presented by digital transformation across regions.
Chiara Bonacchi
Chiara Bonacchi is Chancellor’s Fellow in Heritage, Text and Data Mining and Senior Lecturer in Heritage, at the University of Edinburgh, where she directs the Heritage Minds Lab and co-leads the Cultural Heritage Research Theme for the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
She is the recipient of the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Archaeology (2022) for: her work on the development of novel big data-driven methodologies for heritage research; theoretical and empirical studies of media experiences of archaeology; and large-scale and comparative research on the relationships between people’s interactions with the past, their political identities and future thinking.
Title: Political uses of the ancient past on social media are predominantly negative and extreme
Abstract: In this talk, I will review current research on political uses of the past online. I will then present the result of a recent collaborative study assessing whether references to the ancient past in debates about political issues on social media over-represent negative and extreme views. In this work, we used a range of sentiment analysis techniques to analyse a corpus of 1,478,483 posts, comments and replies published on Brexit-themed Facebook pages between 2015 and 2017. Through this case study, it was possible to demonstrate that people are likely to use references to the ancient past to justify negative and extreme political views than more moderate positions. The results show that mentions of the ancient past in political discourse on multi-sided issues on social media are likely to indicate the presence of hostile and polarised opinions. In my conclusions, I will discuss the implications of this work for digital humanities, heritage studies as well as for research and practice related to the promotion of democracy online.
About Linnaeus University
Linnaeus University is a creative and international knowledge environment that promotes curiosity, creativity, companionship and utility. More than 44,000 students are registered at Linnaeus University.
Linnaeus University is located in Växjö and Kalmar and offers 150 degree programmes and 1,300 single-subject courses. Linnaeus University was e
stablished in 2010 through a merger between Växjö University and Kalmar University College.
With some 2,100 employees and 44,000 students it is a modern university with Småland as its base and the world as its arena. Studying and working at Linnaeus University involves being part of an environment that is characterised by knowledge and development. Students acquire new knowledge and learn to have a critical approach. Researchers make new discoveries that can bring change to our society. Employees share stories of a workplace with both challenges and opportunities. Linnaeus University is a university where people can reach their full potential.
Discover the city of Växjö and its surroundings
Discover Växjö and its surroundings![]()
You can easily take a bus (every 10 minutes) or walk (approx. 45 minutes) from Campus to the city centre - today Växjö is one of the fastest growing cities in all Sweden with a lot to see and experience.
In the deep forests of Småland you will find Växjö, The Greenest City in Europe 2018*. The city is surrounded by lakes – which, in Swedish, is evident from the name. Environmental issues are at the top of the agenda here, but also music, sports and enterprising characterise Växjö. You can enjoy world-class sports and Michelin star food. But perhaps the proximity to nature is what makes many people choose to stay in Växjö.
On the outskirts of Växjö, you will find Linnaeus University’s campus. The canmpus is surrounded by beautiful parks, forests, meadows, and lakes. On campus, everything is nearby and it takes about 10 minutes to travel by bus to the city centre. Riding a bicycle takes about the same time. If you want to take a walk around one of the lakes this takes roughly 20 minutes. Welcome to Växjö!
Learn more about what to see and do in Växjö
Learn more about Småland´s Kingdom of Glass
Walking tips
If you are on the university’s campus, you are just a stone’s throw away from Kronoberg County’s greatest wonder, as voted by the inhabitants of Växjö, namely Teleborg Castle. If you start from the University Library, you can walk past Stallvägen and Trummenvägen directly to the castle avenue and reach the castle in just 5 minutes. Behind the castle, in the direction of Lake Trummen, you will find the beautiful and lush castle park.
Learn more about Teleborg Castle: https://teleborgsslott.com/
If you instead choose to start from the city centre, one walking tip is the 4 km walk around Lake Växjösjön. On this walk, you get to enjoy not only the beautiful surroundings but also some 10 works of art.
Learn more about public art in Växjö: https://vaxjo.se/sidor/se-och-gora/kultur-och-noje/konst-och-sevardheter/offentlig-konst-i-vaxjo.html
*Växjö municipality was awarded the European Commission’s European Green Leaf Award in 2018.
A sustainable event
The conference “3nd International Symposium on Digital Transformation” is a sustainability-assured meeting in accordance with Linnaeus University’s guidelines for sustainable events. These guidelines are linked to the 17 global goals in Agenda 2030 and comprise the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, the social, and the environmental.
Learn more about Linnaeus University´s sustainable events here.