Calls for papers

 

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning

 

Special Issue on: “Empirical Surveys on the Adoption of ICTs in Schools: From Wishful Thinking to Constructivist Learning and Beyond”

Guest Editors:
Griff Richards, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Dragan Gasevic, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Weihong Huang, Kingston University London, UK
Miltiadis Lytras, University of Patras, Greece

In the past few decades, information and communication technologies (ICT) have been widely used in schools worldwide. Visions and realities, wishful thinking and tough daily learning conditions in real educational settings, set a context for questioning:

• How can we promote the adoption of ICT in school towards more effective learning and teaching?
• How can we exploit ICT for the personal and professional development of teachers and managers in primary and secondary education?
• How can we utilise emerging ICT to establish quality standards in education at the regional and national levels?
• How can we develop social networks on the top of ICT-supported infrastructure for collaborative learning and exploitation of social capital?
• How can we investigate new learning paradigms that are down to earth (in terms of understanding by educational community and of applicability)?

This list is far from exhaustive, not only because learning is a fascinating and context-aware process but mostly because learning is about inspiring new generations for a better world.

Worldwide, a multitude of initiatives by well-established government or non-government bodies, investments of billions of dollars and the creative work of millions of people are aimed at just trying to answer a simple question, “How can ICT improve learning and instruction?”

The ultimate objective of this special issue is to present empirical surveys from all over the world that demonstrate the ways that ICT are being exploited in real educational contexts.

In parallel with this issue, the guest editors have undertaken an international effort to run, in late 2006, an international survey in 10 countries with a unified methodology and research tool. [Anyone interested in participating in this global effort is welcome to send an email to the guest editors].

This special issue is also complementary to another IJKL special issue: Knowledge and Learning Technologies for National Educational Systems: New Horizons for Open Minds Subject Coverage
Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Empirical surveys at regional and national levels for the adoption of ICT for effective learning and teaching
• Surveys on required competencies for teachers, and managers of education in the context of technology enhanced education
• Surveys on required policies for the integration of ICT in strategic planning and considerations in school education
• Case studies of implementations that illustrate good practice and show alignment of strategies at class, school, schoolboard, and ministry levels

Notes for Prospective Authors

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere

All papers are refereed through a peer review process. A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers are available on the Author Guidelines page

Important Dates

Full article submission: 15 September 2006

Notification to authors: 15 November

Final versions due by: 15 December 2006