Call For Papers: E-Learning in the Social Sciences

Developing the use of electronic media in teaching and learning is currently high on the list of priorities for higher education. Many academics are exploring the scope to integrate blogs, wikis, podcasts, virtual worlds and online activities into their teaching , while institutions develop e-learning strategies and invest in the infrastructure which will support these innovations.

While such initiatives can provide new opportunities for learning they can also present challenges. Students may prefer more traditional approaches to learning or resnt the perceived intrusion of staff into their leisure spaces. The characteristics of some technologies may facilitate tendencies towards the development of instructional industrialism or challenge existing conceptualisations of professional autonomy and competencies. A key challenge for teachers and learners alike is to understand how we can overcome such challenges and ensure that these technologies enhance our learning.

As an online journal which allows submissions incorporating audio and visual materials and utilises Web 2.0 technologies, ELiSS provides an exciting and distinctive forum in which to explore such issues. As such, submissions which go beyond text-based communication are particularly encouraged.

Papers could consider, but are not limited to, the following questions:

• Is e-learning in the social sciences different to e-learning in other disciplines?
• What are the positive and negative experiences of students encountering e-learning? Does it provide a more flexible learning environment and/or (re-)create patterns of inclusion/exclusion?
• How can new technologies be used to support critical thinking by students and how can it support co-operative and constructivist learning?
• What are the practical problems encountered in putting e-learning into practice and how can you overcome these?
• How can theoretical and conceptual approaches from the social sciences help us to develop a critical understanding of the implementation and experience of e-learning?
• In what ways does e-learning help or challenge us in re-conceptualising the role of the teacher in the social sciences?

ELiSS welcomes academic articles, practice papers and reports which address these and related issues.

The deadline for submission is: 31st December 2008

Please contact the issue editor, Dr John Craig, University of Huddersfield, if you wish to discuss any ideas for submission at j.craig@hud.ac.uk