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Abstract Submission

Submissions are now open for the International Meeting of the STACK Community 2026.

We welcome a wide range of contributions from educators, researchers, developers, instructional designers, and institutions working with STACK or with broader automated assessment technologies. Submissions may take the form of paper presentations, lightning talks, or posters.

The call for abstracts will open soon.

Presentation Formats

The conference will include paper presentations, lightning talks, and poster presentations, as described in the Conference Format page and detailed below.

Paper Presentations (25 minutes)

Paper presentations accommodate a broad range of substantial contributions. These may include, but are not limited to:

  • research findings (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods)
  • institutional case studies
  • technical developments
  • pedagogical innovations
  • demonstrations of tools or workflows
  • evaluation of practice
  • theory- or evidence-informed reflections

Any contribution that would benefit from a full 25-minute slot is welcome.

Lightning Talks (10 minutes)

Lightning talks are short, focused presentations suitable for:

  • emerging or exploratory ideas
  • new tools, features, or prototypes
  • provocations or questions for community reflection
  • practice-based insights
  • small-scale studies
  • early-stage work not yet ready for a full paper presentation

Lightning talks may introduce ideas that are later discussed further in plenary or workshop spaces.

Posters

Posters support:

  • visual communication of exploratory, early-stage, or practice-based work
  • demonstrations of tools or resources
  • summaries of research in progress
  • institutional implementations
  • anything that benefits from interactive discussion

Posters will be displayed in common areas throughout the conference and a poster walkthrough will allow participants to engage directly with authors.

If you are unsure which format best suits your contribution, please choose the closest match; the academic committee may suggest an alternative format if helpful.

Abstract Guidelines

While this is a STACK-focused conference, we welcome other non-STACK related presentations in the thematic areas described below.

Abstracts should be:

  • 150–300 words in length ;
  • describe the purpose, approach, and contribution of the work;
  • indicate relevance to STACK or (if applicable) to the chosen thematic topic;
  • specify your preferred presentation format (paper, lightning talk, or poster);
  • select one or more thematic topics (submissions can fit into multiple areas);
  • list all authors and affiliations.

Full papers are not required.

Submissions are not restricted to the thematic topics listed below and all relevant contributions will be considered.

Thematic Topics

Submissions may be aligned with one or more of the following thematic areas.
Each topic will be chaired by a member of the community with relevant expertise.

  1. Mathematical assessment in the age of AI (Chair: Jesús Copado)

  2. Institutionalisation of STACK (Chair: Mike Altieri)

  3. Research evidence and methods (Chair: Ian Jones)
    Presentations and discussions describing rigorous approaches to evaluating learning. Approaches might include experiments, analyses of log data, surveys, interviews, or other educational research methods.

  4. STACK in challenging environments (Chair: Michael Obiero)
    Presentations and discussions on how STACK is being used to meet different challenges. These might be formative assessment for large classes, providing immediate personalised feedback in cases where there are no teaching assistants, providing assessment that are low stakes to promote practice, challenges with devices, e.g. using STACK on mobile phones, limited access to internet, resistance to technology, etc.

  5. Cross-institutional collaborations in STACK (Chair: Franca Hoffmann)
    Presentations and discussions on building and leveraging effective collaboration between institutions at multiple scales and across contexts. Topics could include resource development, resource sharing, knowledge transfer, education research, and integration across development – deployment – research.

  6. STACK Related Developments (Chair: Michael Kallweit)
    This topic focuses on recent developments around STACK, including automation workflows, question bank management, interoperability, scalability, and practical innovations that improve the reliability and usability of STACK in educational settings. Contributions are welcome from both technical and pedagogical perspectives.

  7. Competency Based Learning and Electronic Assessment: STACK for secondary schools (Chair: Zach Mbasu)
    Presentations and discussions on the development of open digital textbooks (with STACK resources) for teaching and learning. Presentations could be on the interoperability of STACK and PreTeXt, development process of the books, deployment and learner/teacher experiences.

  8. STACK in formative and summative assessment (Chair: Meike Akveld)
    Presentations and discussions on how different institutions organise formative and summative assessment, both from a logistical and a pedagogical viewpoint. Analysis of the data.

  9. Training materials, processes and practices (Chair: Tim Lowe)
    Presentations and discussions on how different institutions train and develop STACK users including any materials developed and any needs which need to be addressed. (See also the related workshop.)

  10. Automated Assessment Applications Beyond the Mathematics Classroom (Chair: Michael Crocco)
    STACK and other automated assessment practice papers in the areas of chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, statistics, etc.

  11. Contributed submissions (Chair: George Kinnear)
    Submissions that do not naturally fit within a specific thematic area are equally welcome.

Note: Many submissions will fit more than one topic; authors are welcome to indicate multiple relevant areas.

Review and Session Allocation

Submissions will be reviewed by the academic committee and topic chairs, who will consider:

  • clarity and coherence of the abstract
  • relevance to STACK or the thematic topics
  • significance of contribution
  • suitability of the chosen presentation format
  • balance across topic areas

Where helpful for the programme structure, the committee may propose an alternative presentation format.

Key Dates

  • Early submission of abstracts: Sunday 1st February 2026
  • Final submission of abstracts: Sunday 5th April 2026
  • Notification of acceptance: TBC
  • Programme published: TBC

Contact

For questions regarding abstract submission, please contact STACK2026@idems.international.