Special Tracks’ Paper Submission

Below you can find a list of the current accepted Special Tracks and related links for TECH-EDU 2026.

The iVFront (immersive Virtual Frontiers) Special Track aims to provide a platform for sharing and discussing research and practical experiences on immersive AR/VR educational environments. Its goal is to integrate instructional design, pedagogical foundations, implementation, and evidence-based evaluation, demonstrating how these technologies can effectively support teaching and learning processes and develop digital and personal competencies.

We invite researchers, educators, instructional designers, and developers to submit empirical studies, literature reviews, or descriptions of strategies for implementing pedagogical practices. The iVFront covers instructional design frameworks, impact assessment methods, accessibility strategies, teacher training, and implementation across face-to-face, hybrid, and online modalities.

Beyond technology, the track emphasizes the learning experience itself, exploring the affordances of AR/VR and integrating these technologies intentionally to align with pedagogical objectives in educational contexts. It also addresses emerging trends, including the integration of artificial intelligence and metaverse experiences in education.

The track aims to strengthen a community of practice that reflects on these topics and consolidates evidence on the pedagogical applications of AR/VR in diverse educational settings.

Organizers
Daniela Bicalho (danielabicalho@campus.ul.pt) – University of Lisbon, Portugal
Maria Castelhano (mfmcastelhano@gmail.com) – University of Porto, Portugal
Daniela Pedrosa (daniela.pedrosa@ie.ulisboa.pt) – University of Lisbon, Portugal
João Piedade (jmpiedade@ie.ulisboa.pt) – University of Lisbon, Portugal

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/7/Submission/Create

Utilizing Educational Robotics (ER) in the classroom supports students in cultivating cognitive and technical skills, and enhancing their social and personal development as it fosters creativity and innovation and promotes teamwork and communication. Through hands-on engagement, students develop key STEM/STEAM competences such as critical thinking and problem solving and cultivate computational thinking.

At the same time, ER fosters students’ curiosity, enhances students’ engagement with learning, increases motivation, and builds confidence in technology, preparing them for future careers in the digital world. The combination of ER and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a new dynamic and promising trend in utilizing authentic learning activities to achieve physical, social, emotional and intellectual learning outcomes for students of all ages and levels.

This special track aims to bring together the latest research on the use of ER in coding education (K–12), computational thinking, STEM/STEAM learning, physical computing projects, IoT applications, early childhood, secondary, vocational, and higher education, as well as in special education. It welcomes research studies on the combination of ER with AI, and Virtual Robotics to enhance teaching and learning processes, bridge the digital divide, and support diverse learners.

Organizers
Anthi Karatrantou (akarat@upatras.gr) – University of Patras, Greece
Sofia Hadjileontiadou (schatzil@eled.duth.gr) – Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
Christos Panagiotakopoulos (cpanag@upatras.gr) – University of Patras, Greece

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/8/Submission/Create

The rapid evolution of Conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) has introduced a new generation of digital assistants capable of communicating with learners and educators through natural language dialogue. These AI assistants may offer personalized guidance, continuous feedback, and adaptive support, yet they also raise questions about accuracy, pedagogical integration, ethics, and learner agency. Central to current debates is the design of AI assistants, the balance between human and AI control and the implications for autonomy and critical thinking.

This special track invites contributions that advance the design, implementation, and evaluation of conversational teaching/learning assistants through empirical, theoretical, and conceptual studies. Topics include design principles and frameworks, human-centered and value-sensitive approaches, ethical and societal impacts, pedagogical strategies, evaluation methodologies, and case studies across educational disciplines and contexts. The session seeks to promote critical reflection on how conversational AI can enhance teaching and learning while preserving disciplinary diversity, human judgment, and creativity.

Organizers
Yannis Dimitriadis (yannis@tel.uva.es) – University of Valladolid, Spain
Stavros Dimitriadis (sdemetri@csd.auth.gr) – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Kyparissia Papanikolaou (kpapanikolaou@aspete.gr) – School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), Greece

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/9/Submission/Create

The integration of digital games and gamification mechanisms and strategies into learning environments have opened new pathways for engaging, experiential, and learner-centered education. Serious games, digital escape rooms, location-based games and mobile games are some examples that create authentic and interactive contexts fostering motivation, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. At the same time, gamification, understood as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, has proven effective in enhancing learner engagement, persistence and sense of achievement across diverse educational settings.

This special track aims to bring together researchers, educators, game designers and learning technologists to explore theoretical frameworks, design methodologies, empirical research and best practices related to digital games and gamification in education. Topics of interest include the design and evaluation of serious and game-based learning environments, the pedagogical value of playful learning, data-driven feedback through learning analytics, accessibility and inclusion in game design, and ethical considerations in gamified learning.

Organizers
George Koutromanos (koutro@primedu.uoa.gr) – National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Sofia Hadjileontiadou (schatzil@eled.duth.gr) – Democritus University of Thrace, Greece

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/10/Submission/Create

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly evolving and reshaping how we teach, learn, and assess — from adaptive platforms and intelligent tutoring to automated grading, data-informed decision-making, and generative content creation. Yet its momentum risks outpacing evidence. What counts as credible, context-sensitive proof that GenAI improves learning and teaching — for whom, under which conditions, and at what pedagogical and ethical cost?

This Special Track goes beyond hype by centering evidence-based methods, transparent evaluation, and reproducible practices in real educational settings. We invite teachers, lecturers, professors, and researchers to share studies and well-documented implementations, advance human-in-the-loop workflows, and address academic integrity, authorship and provenance, privacy, accessibility, and equity — including low-resource and multilingual contexts. We especially welcome submissions that open their methods and materials — rubrics, prompts, datasets, code, and assignments — to enable verification, reuse, replication, and scaling.

Our aim is to support pedagogical innovation grounded in ethical use, digital literacy, and institutional adaptation, while cultivating a critical understanding of GenAI’s limits and social implications. By foregrounding how we evaluate, document, and share, the track seeks to turn promising pilots into trustworthy, transferable practices in teaching, learning, and assessment.

Organizers
Erickinson Lima (erickinson.bezerra@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal
Ana Rita Costa (anarcosta@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal
António Pedro Costa (apcosta@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal
Ana Balula (balula@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/11/Submission/Create

In the context of a rapidly evolving technological age, meaning-making is no longer confined to human-to-human communication mediated by digital tools. It now extends to our interactions with machines, particularly social media algorithms and generative artificial intelligence. For instance, when we engage with a video by liking or sharing it, we are not only responding to its human creator but also to algorithmic systems that register our behavior and reshape our future digital experiences. Similarly, generative AI tools, capable of producing diverse forms of content, from text to multimodal artifacts, are influenced and refined by our iterative interactions with them, constantly adapting to user input and feedback.

These new forms of interaction represent a profound shift in communicative practice, one that was not anticipated in the original conception of multiliteracies. Today, the landscape of meaning-making is marked by entanglements between human agency and machine control, raising urgent questions about power, access, and visibility. It is therefore essential to expand the multiliteracies framework to critically address how these digital processes intersect with existing social and linguistic inequalities. Informed by decolonial and inclusive pedagogies, this expanded perspective must interrogate how meaning-making practices may reinforce or challenge systemic power imbalances and consider the implications of technological mediation in educational and social contexts.

The aim of this track is to gather recent studies that focus on developing multiliteracies in digital environments, focusing on, but not restricted to, the following topics:

  • Writing and reading with the use of Generative AI
  • Modern social media use from a decolonial/plurilingual/critical perspective
  • Algorithmic literacies within the multiliteracy framework
  • Emerging multimodal forms of digital interaction
  • Use of generative AI for inclusion in literacy practices

Organizers
Liudmila Shafirova (liudmila.shafirova@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal
Ana Rita Costa (anarcosta@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/12/Submission/Create

Digital technologies are reshaping the way mathematics is taught, learned and experienced and open new avenues for enhancing mathematical thinking and problem-solving. Digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have become a topic of intense discussion: How can digital technologies be used effectively in the teaching and learning of mathematics? In what ways can they genuinely help teachers and learners to improve their educational experience? What risks might their use entail? And more specifically, what is the impact of digital technologies and AI on mathematics education and research? Has AI become one of the most discussed topics in education, while the emergence of AI introduces new opportunities and challenges, such as: How can AI be effectively integrated into the teaching and learning of mathematics? In what ways can it assist teachers and students in genuinely improving their educational experience? What risks might it pose for pedagogy, assessment and equity? More specifically, what is the real impact of AI on mathematics education and research?

This special track aims to bring together researchers, educators and practitioners interested in exploring the role of digital technologies and AI in mathematics education, providing a forum for exploring both the potential and the limitations of digital technologies and AI in mathematics education. Contributions may focus on theoretical issues, empirical studies, case studies, classroom practices, policy perspectives.

Organizers
Charalampos Sakonidis (xsakonid@eled.duth.gr) – Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
Anna Klotou (aklothou@psed.duth.gr) – Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
Sofia Hadjileontiadou (schatzil@eled.duth.gr) – Democritus University of Thrace, Greece

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/13/Submission/Create

The SIDE Special Track aims to explore the transformative potential of interdisciplinary approaches in digital education, integrating sustainability, technology, and strategic management to address contemporary educational challenges. As education evolves in a digital and interconnected world, this workshop bridges accounting, informatics, marketing, and management to foster innovative pedagogical and organizational solutions. It aligns with TECH-EDU 2026 mission to advance the global digital learning ecosystem by examining how emerging technologies, sustainable practices, and strategic frameworks can enhance educational outcomes.

The Special Track will focus on leveraging information systems, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools, to personalize learning experiences, while incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles to promote sustainable education models. It will explore how data-driven methodologies, including questionnaires and interviews, can inform educational strategies, and how accounting innovations, such as ESG reporting, can support transparent and ethical educational governance.

Attendees will gain methodological insights, explore cutting-edge technologies, and build networks for future collaborations, making this workshop a pivotal platform for advancing the global digital learning ecosystem.

List of Topics of Interest:

  • Digital technologies for transformative learning
  • CRM systems for personalized education
  • ESG-driven educational technologies (e.g., “ESG-driven digital platforms”)
  • Technology-enabled sustainable learning models
  • Data-driven research in digital education
  • Accounting technologies for educational transparency
  • Digital marketing strategies for learner engagement
  • Interdisciplinary digital frameworks for edtech innovation
  • Ethical implications of AI and technology in education
  • Industry 5.0 technologies in education
  • Learning analytics for optimizing digital education
  • Digital solutions for inclusive education
  • Gamification and simulation for sustainable learning
  • Digital platforms for stakeholder collaboration in education
  • Case studies on technology-driven sustainable education

Organizers
Margarida Pinheiro (margarida.pinheiro@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal
Dora Simões (dora.simoes@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal
Graça Azevedo (graca.azevedo@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal
Fátima Borges (fatima.borges@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal
Ana Torres (ana.torres@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal
Jonas Oliveira (Jonas.Silva.Oliveira@iscte-iul.pt) – University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE), Portugal

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/14/Submission/Create

The recent boom of artificial intelligence has uncovered the hidden potential for intelligent models to address and effectively solve a wide range of problems from multiple domains. Education is a transversal domain of research, which is benefiting significantly from the latest advances in the development of intelligent solutions. While the contributions of artificial intelligence in education are diverse, the practical application of such models has a huge potential, concerning physical and virtual classrooms for all age ranges and adapted to very distinct needs and circumstances.

The Artificial Intelligence in Education Special Track brings together the latest advances in the conception, development and application of artificial intelligence models for education. These models address aspects such as student performance assessment, student engagement enhancement, emotion and learning styles and predisposition identification, virtual assistants, classroom enhancement technologies, automatic adaptation of teaching processes, among others.

Organizers
Tiago Pinto (tiagopinto@utad.pt) – University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Portugal
Eduardo Pires (epires@utad.pt) – University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Portugal
Arsénio Reis (ars@utad.pt) – University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Portugal

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/15/Submission/Create

Educational technologies are reshaping how knowledge is designed, presented, and experienced across diverse learning environments and educational levels. No longer a peripheral support, technology has become a crucial element of educational practice. Its applications span established approaches such as online learning and electronic assessment, and extend to the disruptive potential of extended realities, mobile learning, and artificial intelligence.

These shifts are not only technical but also cultural and creative. Contemporary education increasingly draws on collaborative and artistic practices and on multimodal expression to engage diverse learners and make space for multiple voices. Digital storytelling, game-based learning, and artistic reinterpretations of cultural heritage show how technology can broaden learning opportunities while nurturing critical reflection, aesthetic experience, and civic participation. At the same time, these practices raise urgent questions of inclusion, ethics, and equity.

The expanding use of technology calls for reflection on how they shape creativity, identity, and social relations, not merely on efficiency or novelty. Rather than treating technology as neutral, this track invites contributions that examine both its potential and its limitations. The aim of this special track is to gather research and practice on technology in education from multiple perspectives, with a particular emphasis on inclusive, creative, and future-oriented approaches.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • extended realities
  • gamification and educational and mobile gaming
  • simulation-based learning

Organizer
João Ferreira-Santos (joaomrsantos@ua.pt) – University of Aveiro, Portugal

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/16/Submission/Create

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) applications can become powerful tools to support science, mathematics and technology (SM&T) teaching and learning. However, these types of GenAI applications cannot only be considered as digital tools but, due to their characteristics and potential, they must also be considered as intelligent agents with a certain degree of self-determination. In the context of using technologies in the teaching and learning of SM&T, it is not enough to choose the tools well and use them with a certain educational intentional approach, within a framework called “instrumental orchestration” on which the proponents have been working consistently since 2017.

The “instrumental orchestration” theoretical approach envisages the integration of technological artifacts in SM&T teaching, converting them, for students, into tools that are used in learning environments with greater student engagement and stimulating intellectual challenges (e.g. epistemic learning). It is therefore necessary to find new roles for SM&T teachers and new educational approaches in ecosystems in which students, teacher and GenAI applications can co-operate as agents. Thus, the use of digital tools and GenAI applications needs new theoretical formulations, empirical studies using GenAI applications in the context of the SM&T classroom, as well as studies exploring new educational scenarios in which GenAi acts as an agent.

This Special Track aims to encourage the sharing of knowledge about the use of GenAI applications, or other technologies, in formal contexts teaching SM&T to promote higher-order cognitive learning or explore its potential to help create more productive, stimulating, and intellectually challenging learning ecosystems for students (e.g., epistemic learning). Therefore, theoretical or empirical studies that explore the use of GenAI applications, or other technologies, in formal SM&T teaching contexts to promote high-level cognitive learning, especially those that value the epistemic aspects of learning, are welcome.

Organizers
J. Bernardino Lopes (blopes@utad.pt) – University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Portugal
Cecília Costa (mcosta@utad.pt) – University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Portugal

Paper Submission https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TECHEDU2026/Track/17/Submission/Create