Thursday, May 10, 2007

Innovate Online - Two Calls for Papers - June 30 deadline

We are extending the deadline for manuscript submission to two Innovate special issues: ee-Learning and Building an Evidence Base Supporting K-20 Online Learning.

1. ee-Learning

We have become familiar with "e-learning," which uses communication technologies to connect students and instructors separated by distance and/or by time, and to provide students with access to learning resources and interaction. And there is a long history of (e)xperiential education, where learning takes place in the "real world" of work and service and governing and the other institutions we create to organize our encounters and interests.

Historically, electronic and experiential learning have been unique and separate domains of study and practice. The joining of the two e's in "ee-learning" provides an opportunity to define and organize an emerging pedagogy that brings together these two domains.

ee-Learning offers the possibility of ending (or at least dramatically
reducing) the distance between the academic disciplines and the practices they are designed to inform and illuminate. ee-Learning allows the settings of the world-businesses, service agencies, government offices, or community centers-to be the primary scene of instruction, making it possible for students to learn by applying theory to practice in these settings.
Communication technologies allow students engaged in such settings to act as a learning community by engaging with each other as well as their teachers and colleagues, and to reflect on their experiences. Instructors help students relate their experiences to the bodies of knowledge of the curriculum, and to extend their learning by use of the rich resources found on the Internet as well as books and the older media of instruction. The combination of real-world experience and communication technologies can provide learning opportunities not available in the traditional classroom setting.

If you would like to submit a manuscript on this topic, please review our submission guidelines at http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=submit and send your manuscript to me and to the guest editor of this issue, Steve Eskow
(drseskow@cox.net) no later than June 15, 2007.

2. Building an Evidence Base Supporting K-20 Online Learning

Online learning is a growing phenomenon in education that provides increased access for educational opportunities for students regardless of where they live, their background, their family level of income, or how old they are. While online learning is growing, a number of educational researchers are examining online learning as a new delivery model that can stimulate established education models and ensure that data is available to support innovative and best practices. Exploration and building modern foundations in online learning are key to growing a body of evidence to highlight how this modern vehicle is advancing educational practice.

We seek research-based manuscripts that cover the following topics: (1) innovations in education through online learning, (2) stimulating K-20 learning environments through online learning, and (3) assessments, policy, funding, and governance models that can advance the ability to innovate with online learning.

We expect authors to take full advantage of Innovate's multimedia capacity; supplementary files that illuminate the text are encouraged, and we are especially interested in the possibility of featuring "Try it!"
sites that would offer readers hands-on experience with particular online learning features.

If you would like to submit a manuscript on this topic, please review our submission guidelines at http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=submit and send your manuscript to me and to the guest editors of this issue, Cathy Gunn
(c.gunn@moreheadstate.edu) and Susan Patrick (spatrick@nacol.org), no later than June 30, 2007.

Thanks!

Jim
----
James L Morrison
Editor-in-Chief, Innovate

Friday, May 4, 2007

Slate Annual Conference - Chicago - October 4 & 5, 2007

SLATE, the Midwest Blackboard Users Group, invites you to submit a proposal for a presentation or panel discussion at the 2007 SLATE Conference to be held in Chicago on Thursday and Friday, October 4-5, 2007. Faculty, support staff, systems administrators, librarians, and students are encouraged to participate in this event and share their ideas. A few of the previous topics have discussed:


* Pedagogy of Online Learning
* Emerging Faculty Support Strategies
* A Student Perspective of Blackboard
* Using Blogs & Wikis for Collaboration and Learning
* Making Campus Support Work Effectively
* Disability Access Issues in Blackboard
* Moving Beyond Point & Click
* Mastering the Learning Game
* Copyright & Fair Use


To submit a proposal, go to the SLATE home page, http://slategroup.uchicago.edu and click on the "Call for Proposals" link. That will take you to the online submission form. The deadline for submission is July 15, 2007. Early submission is recommended. Submission of a proposal does not guarantee acceptance for a presentation. After review, you will be notified regarding the status of your submission.


If you have any questions or need additional information please contact:


Ken Sadowski
SLATE Conference Coordinator
The University of Chicago
1100 E. 57th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
sadowski@uchicago.edu
phone: 773.702.4665
fax: 773.702.8802