Learners and Learning Contexts: International Perspectives on New Alignments for the Digital Age

Special Issue Editors
Dr. Joke Voogt, Professor of ICT and Curriculum, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands  – J.M.Voogt@uva.nl

Dr. Gerald Knezek, Professor of Learning Technologies, University of North Texas, USA  – gknezek@gmail.com

Background

Educational researchers and policy makers have long known that research findings can take as long as one generation to become established in practice. The International Summit on ICT in Education (EDUSummIT) was founded in 2009 with the goal of fast tracking educational technology research findings from around the world into locally relevant policies and practices. EDUsummIT is an invitational summit focusing on the integration of Information and Communication Technology in education, meeting every two years. Approximately 100 – 150 key stakeholders, (policymakers, practitioners and researchers) from all over of the world are invited to discuss challenges and research-informed and practice- based strategies to effectively implement technology into teaching and learning. EDUsummIT emerged from the International Handbook on Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education (Voogt & Knezek, 2008; Voogt, Knezek, Christensen & Lai, 2018). The sixth EDUsummIT, EDUSummIT 2019, was held in Quebec City, Canada (Laval University hosting) and had as its theme Learners and Learning Contexts: New Alignments in the Digital Age. This theme is the focus of this special issue for ETRD.

Learners and Learning Contexts: New Alignments in the Digital Age

New developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are changing knowledge representations, creating new forms of human computer interactions, blurring formal and informal learning, changing leadership patterns and so forth, often resulting in various types of misalignments between learners and learning contexts.  To help policymakers, practitioners and researchers develop effective strategies to make the best use of (ever changing) technologies in education there is a need to identify promising new alignments based on what is already known from global evidence. During EDUsummIT 2019, this theme was elaborated by thirteen thematic working groups that focused on the following topics where specific misalignments often occur (see ACTION AGENDA, https://edusummit2019.fse.ulaval.ca/):

• Technology developments: how human computer interactions change with technological innovation.
• Learners as learning leaders: how does leadership for learning emerge beyond the traditional teaching models?
• Creativity for teachers and teaching.
• Machine thinking and learning: ways in which they could be good for human learning.
• Safe and responsible internet use in a connected world: Teaching critical thinking and accountability to promote cyber-wellness.
• Putting learning back into learning analytics: optimizing learning through analyzing the data. 
• Connected learning: online human interaction and interaction with digital resources. 
• Pedagogical reasoning and reflective practice: a framework for teaching in a digital age.
• Advancing models and theories of technology integration: implications for practitioners and policy makers.
• New paradigms for researching digital technologies: achieving scalability and sustainability. 
• Cross-cultural alignments, fertilization, differentiation: bridging the gaps through technology.
• National policies in curriculum reforms: what makes a quality curriculum in a technological era?
• Knowledge building/knowledge creation in the school classroom and beyond

For this special issue we seek papers that that provide evidence-informed implications on one of these topics for policy and/or practice.

Focus & Scope

The special issue intends to publish papers about international perspectives on one of the topics mentioned above. The international perspective can be shown, for instance, through inclusion of a broad international review of the literature on the topic, or through the inclusion of evidence-informed examples or lessons learned representing different (geographical) contexts. For the international perspective it is not enough to have an international group of authors. In addition we are looking for papers that provide evidence-informed implications for policy and/or practice.

Examples of potential contributions may include:

• Conceptual articles that offer new lenses or models for researching the topics, and that have important implications for both future research and practice
• Practical papers, embedded in theory and focusing on evidence-informed examples/lessons for policy and practice
• Literature reviews showing the state of the art of the topic under study, resulting in a research agenda

Examples of typical contributions

Voogt, J., Fisser, P., Good, J., Mishra, P. & Yadav, A. (2015). Computational thinking in compulsory education: Towards an agenda for research and practice Education and Information Technologies, 20,4, 715-728. DOI: 10.1007/s10639-015-9412-6

Lai, K.-W, Khaddage, F. & Knezek, G. (2013). Blending student technology experiences in formal and informal learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 29, 414–425

Webb, M.E., Prasse, D., Phillips, M., Kadihevich, D.M., Angeli, C., Strijker, A., Carvalho, A.A., Andresen, B.B., Dobozy, E., Laugesen, H. (2018). Challenges for IT?Enabled Formative Assessment of Complex 21st Century Skills. Technology, knowledge and learning. Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 23(3), 441–456. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-018-9379-7

Important Dates

January 30, 2020 – Outline of proposed paper due to the Guest Editors (max 750 words). Submit by e-mail to the Guest Editors at J.M.Voogt@uva.nl plus gknezek@gmail.com.

February 15, 2020 – Invitation for elaboration of outline into first draft returned for proposals selected based on alignment with and potential contributions to theme.

May 1, 2020 – First draft of paper due. Submit manuscript via Editorial Manager (https://www.editorialmanager.com/etrd/).

July 1, 2020 – Review completed and author notified of decision.

September 1, 2020 – Revised manuscript due.  Submit via Editorial Manager.

November 1, 2020 – Feedback due to author on revised manuscript.

December 1, 2020 – Final manuscript due by author to Editorial Manager.

January 1, 2021 – Final manuscript accepted and sent to publisher.

Early 2021  — Publication of paper in Online First.

Submission Information
Please prepare your manuscript following the Instructions for Authors on the journal homepage (www.springer.com/11423).

Submit your manuscript via https://www.editorialmanager.com/etrd/. Log into Editorial Manager. Select New Manuscript. Select Article Type  “S.I.: Theory in Learning Design and Technology Research and Practice.”

References

Voogt, J. & Knezek, G. (Eds.) (2008). International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education. New York: Springer.

Voogt, J., Knezek, G., Christensen, R., & Lai, K-W. (Eds.) (2018). Second handbook of information technology in primary and secondary education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.