Boston, Massachusetts
March 6-8, 2014

Conference Chair:
Nichole Pinkard (DePaul University)
Conference Committee:
Elizabeth C. Babcock (California Academy of Sciences)
Angela Booker (University of California, Davis)
Eric Gordon (Emerson College/ Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University)
Philipp Schmidt (Massachusetts Institute of Technology/P2PU)

Today’s networked and digital media demand that we reimagine the where, when and how of educational practice. In an era of online affinity groups, Q&A forums, Wikipedia, and MOOCs of different sizes and shapes, learners are encountering an abundance of choice, and learning is unshackled from conventional institutional bases, credentials, pathways, and players. Educators and learning institutions are facing a new landscape of challenges and opportunities. Researchers are struggling to define new objects of study and connect to an evolving set of practices and design challenges.

It is more important than ever that the DML community finds shared educational and societal values to rally around. How do we build new alliances and coalitions that will break down the walls between formal and informal learning, between diverse communities, and between research and practice? We need to reach beyond the roles we occupy as teachers, librarians, mentors, designers, researchers, and organizers to pursue a common purpose. We can’t default to given disciplinary identities, institutional roles, and well-worn forms of educational practice; we need to challenge each other to reconsider and reposition the contributions we can make to educational reform that will serve the needs of all learners. This year’s conference calls on all of us to build shared agendas and goals to reach across the boundaries that separate our disciplines, fields, institutions, and sectors.

Register by February 19th to take advantage of Early Bird Registration Rates. See the conference website (http://dml2014.dmlhub.net/) for more details, full schedule, and registration information.