[AISWorld] Last CFP KM&EL SI on: "Creating, Supporting, Managing, and Sustaining Virtual Learning Communities"

[maggie wang]

*Submission deadline extended to August 31, 2011*



*Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal (KM&EL)***



*Special Issue on***



*Creating, Supporting, Managing, and Sustaining Virtual Learning Communities
***

* *

*Guest Editor*

* *

*Xun Ge, Ph.D.*

* *

Associate Professor

Instructional Psychology and Technology

Department of Educational Psychology

The University of Oklahoma

U. S. A.



Email: xge at ou.edu



We are living in an information-rich digital age full of wondrous power,
capabilities, and possibilities of emerging technologies. Web 2.0
technologies, characterized by participatory information sharing and
collaboration and users generating content and creating knowledge in virtual
communities, have opened our eyes to a new *open world* (Bonk, 2009).
Examples of web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video
sharing sites, virtual worlds, and digital object repositories. These
emerging technologies have provided us numerous possibilities for learning
and instruction and for creating engaging and optimal learning opportunities
and alternative and innovative instructional experiences for K-12 education,
higher education, corporate, government, and military training. The world
has entered into what Bonk (2009) describes as “We-All-Learn” trends, which
encourage open participation and compel educators to reflect on learning and
instruction from a new perspective. Learners are no longer passive
information recipients, whose role is to memorize or consume information,
but rather active participants, whose role is to direct their own learning,
construct and create knowledge, and contribute to a virtual community;
whereas teachers are guides, coaches, and mentors to facilitate learning.



However, the potentials of the emerging web 2.0 technologies have not been
fully recognized and tapped. Often we find online instruction simply
duplication of face-to-face lectures, in which technology is simply an
appendage to education instead of playing a more central and transforming
role. Many instructors have not changed their mindset to accommodate the
participatory culture and the new paradigm of learning and instruction; and
little has been done beyond posting syllabi, assignments, and grading to a
learning management system or a web site that is supposed to be used for
collaborative learning. It is argued that new technologies not only make us
more productive, but also help us become more reflective and creative.  Most
importantly, technologies have afforded us with tools to accomplish goals we
would have not been able to without them. As early as in the 80s, Pea (1985)
argued that technology should not only be used to amplify our thinking but
also to reorganize our mental functioning. Therefore, we are prompted to
fully take advantage of web 2.0 affordances to develop innovative learning
environments and build virtual learning communities that will motivate and
engage learners meaningfully and interactively in their learning experiences
and focus on developing the 21st century skills that emphasize innovation,
creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, decision
making, and problem solving.



Yet, using emerging technologies to build a virtual learning community (VLC)
is a multifaceted innovation. It not only involves the use of new
technologies, but also new method of learning and new ways of thinking of
learning and instruction. It presents multiple levels of challenges to both
learners and instructors. Subsequently, there are many issues awaiting to be
examined, studied, and addressed, including learners’ perceptions,
motivation and identity when participating in a VLC, strategies and methods
of designing, building, managing, and evaluating a VLC to develop students
critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity, and teachers’ beliefs
about participatory culture of a virtual learning environment.



This special issue of the KM&EL international journal is dedicated to the
building of VLCs using emerging technologies. In this special issue, a VLC
is defined as both informal, such as one that supports ongoing professional
development, and formal, such as one as found in a formal course setting
that lasts a semester. In this call, we invite manuscripts that report
empirical studies (both quantitative and qualitative studies) of
investigating issues and challenges related to the building of a VLC, the
use or design of tools scaffold the growth of a VLC, and methods and efforts
to create, build, manage, sustain and evaluate a VLC. In addition, this
special issue welcomes manuscripts discussing conceptual frameworks or
theoretical constructs related to VLC building.



Recommended topics of interest include, but not limited to:



*Impact of a Virtual Learning Community***

* *

   - Learners/members' perceptions and their impact on their participation
   in a VLC
   - Learners/members' motivation in a VLC
   - Learners' identity development in a VLC
   - Teacher or a facilitator's role in a VLC
   - Role of a VLC on critical thinking and problem solving skill
   development
   - Impact of peer interactions on metacognition and self-regulation in a
   VLC


   - VLC and reflective learners

* *

*Designing and Evaluating a Virtual Learning Community***

* *

   - Tools and strategies to build, manage, and sustain a VLC
   - Tools and strategies to promote identity development in a VLC
   - Tools and strategies to facilitate peer interactions, collaboration and
   other VLC activities
   - Tools and strategies to facilitate reflection and self-regulation in a
   VLC
   - Tools and strategies to support complex problem solving in a VLC


   - Tools and methods to evaluate the effectiveness of a VLC

* *

*Conceptual Frameworks or Theoretical Constructs about a Virtual Learning
Community***

* *

   - Community of learners and practice
   - Community of inquiry
   - Types of communities and their characteristics (e.g., task-based,
   knowledge-based, and practice-based, etc.)
   - Various constructs and factors influencing the success of a VLC



*References*

Bonk, C.J. (2009). *The world is open: How Web technology is revolutionizing
education*. Jossey-Base.

Pea, R.D. (1985). Beyond amplification: Using the computer to reorganize
mental functioning. *Educational Psychologist, 20(4)*, 167-182.



*Important Dates**  *



Submission due: 20th August, 2011 31st August, 2011

Notification of decision: 20th October, 2011

Finalization: 20th November 2011

Publication schedule: December 2011

* *

*Submission Instructions** *



Manuscripts should be sent by email to the Guest Editor, Dr. Xun Ge (
xge at ou.edu).



Papers must not have been published, accepted for publication, or presently
be under consideration for publication elsewhere. A standard double-blind
review process will be used for selecting papers to be published in this
special issue. Authors should follow the instructions outlined in the
KM&EL Journal
Website (see URL
http://www.kmel-journal.org/ojs/index.php/online-publication/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions
)



For more information about the KM&EL Journal, please visit the web site:

http://www.kmel-journal.org/ojs/index.php/online-publication
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