[AISWorld] KM&EL CFP Special Issue on Models, technologies and approaches toward widening the Open Access to learning and education

[maggie wang]

*Call for Papers*



*Knowledge Management & E-Learning (KM&EL)*

*KM&ELJournal Metrics (Scopus):*

*2014 SJR (SCImago Journal Rank): 0.359 | Ranking: 82/155 Management of
Technology and Innovation | 411/914 Education*

*2014 SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper): 0.64 | Ranking: 77/118
Management of Technology and Innovation | 401/687 Education*



*Special Issue on*



*Models, technologies and approaches toward* *widening* *the Open Access to
learning and education*



*Guest Editors*



*Prof. Rachid Benlamri*

Department of Software Engineering,

Lakehead University, Ontario, Canada

Email: rbenlamr at lakeheadu.ca



*Dr. Fanny Klett (IEEE Fellow)*

Director,

German Workforce ADL Partnership Laboratory, Germany

Email: fanny.klett.de at adlnet.gov



*Dr. Minhong Wang*

Faculty of Education,

The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Email: magwang at hku.hk



The change in the way people perceive and access learning poses new
challenges for educational organizations, libraries, researchers,
practitioners and policy makers, especially with reference to the
development of advanced technologies that accommodate the needs of a new
generation of learners, the choice of appropriate technologies, and the
application of learning technologies in emerging learning contexts.

An Open Access (OA) concept refers to learning and education that is moving
beyond structured curricula and defined course content. It rather
integrates a variety of formal and informal learning approaches to
accomplishing the dissemination of knowledge, skills and competencies
across the diversity of social and cultural backgrounds. Learning is
structured around Open Educational Resources (OER) that can be accessed
through a variety of platforms, devices and contexts serving all learners
regardless of their enrollment or other status. Wireless and network
technologies, cloud computing and artificial intelligence are only few of
the solutions toward OA services that are expected to make Open Learning
more comfortable and adaptable to the learners’ needs.

This special issue of the KM&EL international journal is dedicated to
recent opportunities, issues and experiences that the increasing number of
organizations, applying the Open Learning concept, face in designing,
implementing and providing the new generation of formal and informal
education, namely Open Access education.

UNESCO, MIT, Harvard, Hewlett Foundation, Pensoft, Open Education
Consortium, Creative Commons, SPARC Open Access Working Group are among
world leaders in Open Access to Learning and Education. This is a
non-embracing list of institutions and journals supporting OER or
disseminating their work to a worldwide audience. The various initiatives
that evolved from Open Learning to Open Access education make us aware that
technology and infrastructures are the enabling aspect of these concepts.
There is no single approach to Open Learning, and no one-size-fits-all
approach to Open Access education.

Exactly this fact we consider an opportunity for growing the Open Access
approach. It represents the focus of this Special Issue that calls for a
broad spectrum of education models and technology solutions, curriculum
design and social experiences, pedagogical theories and implementations in
an Open Access setting. This Special Issue aims to provide a forum for
academics and practitioners to explore issues related to the design,
application and evaluation of the Open Access concept in formal and
informal education, and organizational training.

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

   - Next generation learning, training and assessment technologies,
   platforms and environments for Open Learning
   - Infrastructures and organizational issues for Open Learning
   - Scalability, integration and reuse of Open Educational Resources
   - Context management for Open Learning systems
   - Languages and middleware for Open Access learning systems
   - Knowledge Management issues for Open Learning systems
   - Massive Open Online Courseware
   - Impact of technology on Open Learning
   - Use of open data and ubiquitous information, privacy and security
   - Social Networks and Open Access learning
   - Interrelationship between Open Learning and social inclusion
   - Curriculum development and the need for a fast changing adaptation
   - Policies and social concerns for Open Access learning & education
   including Intellectual Property Rights and licensing issues
   - Open Access learning systems for people with disabilities
   - Quality approaches to Open Learning
   - Pedagogical approaches and theories for Open Access education
   - Obstacles, future needs, and measures of success of the Open Learning
   concept toward education and interrelated settings

We are interested in both theoretical and practical papers that aim to
improve Open Learning and learning performance by applying the latest
technological advances toward user-oriented solutions. We would like to
stimulate interest in the issues across academia, practice, industry,
research and policy, and therefore we welcome focused papers from all
sectors.

*Important Dates*

Submission due: 30th August, 2015

Notification of acceptance: 30th October, 2015

Publication schedule: March, 2016 (Vol. 8. No. 1)

*Submission Instructions*

Electronic submission by email to the Guest Editor is required (
fanny.klett.de at adlnet.gov or rbenlamr at lakeheadu.ca).

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
Website (see URL
http://www.kmel-journal.org/ojs/index.php/online-publication/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions
)

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

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