Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Call for Papers in Online education

Call for Papers in Online education.
Deadline for proposals April 30, 2006

We seek papers that address emerging issues in online pedagogy and instructional modeling, bridge theories with practice, and identify best practices in online teaching and learning. See
http://euphrates.wpunj.edu/faculty/ferriss101/ for details or email
bobzheng@temple.edu or FerrisS@wpunj.edu

NOTE: ALSO SEE: http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=150028


Online learning has become an integral and growing factor in higher education - both in distance learning and as an adjunct to the traditional classroom. Yet the growth of online education has not been accompanied by a concomitant growth in pedagogical resources for online educators. More importantly, such growth needs to be undergirded by sound learning theories and instructional modeling. Studies show an inconsistency in online teaching and learning due to a discrepancy between theories and practice in online education. A recent Pew study found that “most online courses are organized in much the same manner as are their campus counterparts: developed by individual faculty members, with some support from the IT staff, and offered within a semester or quarter framework. Most follow traditional academic practices.” (Twigg, 2001). Evidently, educators clearly need guidance in online teaching so that they can effectively apply theories to online design and teaching and effectively utilize technology in the classroom in general and in online learning in particular.

The proposed book tries to meet the imminent needs in online education by (a) bridging theories with practice, (b) addressing emerging issues in online pedagogy and instructional modeling, and (c) identifying best practices in online teaching and learning. It examines the issues in online learning and training by focusing on two important premises:

1. Online learning and training should be based on effective modeling that is undergirded by sound theories and principles; and
2. Online learning and training should model best practices that are generalizable across disciplines and subjects.

We, therefore, call for chapters that focus on (a) sound theories that define concepts and principles that further define conditions, strategies, and performance outcomes in online instructional modeling and (b) online instruction that models best practices with an emphasis on online pedagogy, learner characteristics, communication, online learning assessment, etc.