Timeline

The Special Interest Group Advanced Technologies for Learning/Learning Sciences is pleased to announce the Best Student Paper Award.

At each AERA, the combined SIGs will announce up to two awards for best paper presented at AERA in which the lead author is a student. The student will receive the award at the combined SIG business meeting. This award was established in 2006.

The student author of winning paper(s) will receive a $250 honorarium.

Criteria for selection

Any type of paper appropriate for presentation at AERA can be considered for the award. Papers will be judged on a 5-point scale using the following criteria:

(a) Significance of problem or topic (originality, choice of problem, importance of issues, contribution to education);
(c) Literature foundation (theoretical/conceptual/practical frameworks, rationale, literature review, grounding);
(d) Research methods and execution (research design, methods, rigor, use of evidence, quality of data sources, adequacy);
(e) Conclusions and interpretations (significance of conclusions; implications for research, practice, policy; development of ideas; relationship of conclusions to findings; generalizability or usefulness of findings or concepts);
(f) Quality of writing, clarity, logic, organization;
(g) Overall recommendation.

Application process

Eligibility:
A paper accepted to AERA in which the lead author is a student member of SIG-ATL and/or SIG-LS or any student paper accepted to a session sponsored by SIG ATL/LS. Each student can only submit one paper for consideration per year. Students who have been awarded the SIG ATL/LS Best Student Paper Award may not submit another paper for consideration in the year immediately following their award. Papers may not have been published elsewhere, but may be submitted for review.

Submission guidelines:
1. Papers submitted for consideration should be full papers (not the paper proposal submitted to AERA).
2. Papers should be written in APA format.
3. Papers should not exceed 10,000 words (or about 30 pages).
4. Email a copy of your paper in PDF or MS Word format to SIG ATL/LS award committee chair (mimi.recker at usu.edu)
5. Please include the following information on the paper's cover sheet:

Award committee and reviewers

Dr. Mimi Recker, Chair Utah State University (mimi.recker at usu.edu)
Dr. Leema Berland University of Texas
Dr. Chrystalla Mouza University of Delaware
Dr. Joe Polman University of Missouri, St Louis
Dr. Iris Tabak Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Please email the award committee chair if you are interested in being a reviewer.

Previous Years' Winner

Izabel Duarte Olson, Northwestern University, 2013 winner
Michael Sao Pedro, Worcester Polytechnic University, 2012 winner
Jolie Matthews, Stanford University, 2011 winner
Michele Wilkerson-Jerde, Northwestern University, 2010 winner
Heather Leary, Utah State University, 2009 winner
Pei-Ling Hsu, University of Victoria, 2008 winner
Victor Lee, Northwestern University, 2007 winner
Sanghoon Park, Florida State University, 2006 winner
Brian Lukoff, Stanford University, 2006 winner