We invite two kinds of paper submissions:
For either kind of paper, an abstract must be submitted to the Easy Chair Blocks and Beyond workshop submission site by the end of 19 Jul 2017.
Completed papers must be submitted as PDF files to the Easy Chair Blocks and Beyond workshop submission site by the end of 26 Jul 2017. Use an IEEE Conference template to format your submission.
Submitted paper abstracts and PDFs can be updated at any time through
the end of day on 26 Jul 2017 (anytime on Earth). Authors are encouraged
to submit drafts that can be updated until the 26 Jul deadline.
Drafts should be indicated by putting Draft: at the
beginning of the title in the paper.
As with the Proceedings of the First Blocks and Beyond Workshop, we plan to publish the proceedings of the Second Workshop with the IEEE.
Some expected differences from the 1st workshop:
Submissions are not anonymous, so do not anonymize your papers.
Demo/poster abstract submissions will be accepted through Fri. Sep. 22. But consider early registration and hotel reservations by Fri. Sep. 8. See the details.
All workshop participants (whether or not they have an accepted position statement or full paper) are encouraged to present a demo and/or poster of their work during the workshop
Here are instructions for the final submission of demo/poster summaries for the published proceedings.
Blocks programming environments represent program syntax trees as compositions of visual blocks. They are an increasingly popular way to introduce programming and computational thinking; tens of millions of people have used tools like Scratch, Blockly, App Inventor, Snap!, Pencil Code, Alice/Looking Glass, AgentSheets/AgentCubes, and Code.org's curricula. But blocks programming is not just for beginners; environments like GP and domain-specific blocks languages are targeted at hobbyists, scientists. and other casual programmers.
Capitalizing on the energy and enthusiasm from the 1st Blocks and Beyond Workshop in Atlanta in 2015, this workshop aims to continue studying the usability, effectiveness, and generalizability of affordances of these environments and their associated pedagogies. The workshop will bring together educators and researchers with experience in blocks languages, as well as members of the broader VL/HCC community who wish to examine this area more deeply. We seek participants with diverse expertise, including, but not limited to: design of programming environments, instruction with these environments, the learning sciences, data analytics, usability, and more.
The workshop will be a generative discussion that sets the stage for future work and collaboration. It will include participant presentations and demonstrations that frame the discussion, followed by reflection on the state of the field and smaller working-group discussion and brainstorming sessions.