Scientific articles accepted (personal checks, too) — from the nytimes.com by Gina Kolata

Excerpt:

The scientists who were recruited to appear at a conference called Entomology-2013 thought they had been selected to make a presentation to the leading professional association of scientists who study insects.

But they found out the hard way that they were wrong. The prestigious, academically sanctioned conference they had in mind has a slightly different name: Entomology 2013 (without the hyphen). The one they had signed up for featured speakers who were recruited by e-mail, not vetted by leading academics. Those who agreed to appear were later charged a hefty fee for the privilege, and pretty much anyone who paid got a spot on the podium that could be used to pad a résumé.

 

Excerpt of some recommendations/suggestions from Mr. Steve McMullen, Assistant Professor of Economics, Calvin College:

  1. Only publish in journals that you know are legitimate and long standing.
  2. Only go to conferences hosted by an institution or association that you respect.

These two rules immediately rule out all the suspect journals and conferences, but they do so by granting power to the traditional gatekeepers. I recognize that if everyone behaves this way, it might be difficult for the open-access movement, which is sometimes laudable, to take off in our field.

Another observation:  It is probably important for departments to have some statement written into their scholarship statements/guidelines that indicate the sort of journals that count and those that don’t, and a process for evaluating publication outlets.

 

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Also see:

 

From DSC:
I’m also reminded of what I’d like to see in a digital textbook — a series of “layers” that people — with various roles and perspectives on the content — could use to comment on and annotate an article:

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NEW -- Journal of Learning Spaces - Volume 1 from December 2011

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The Scholarly Kitchen - What's hot and cooking in scholarly publishing

 

Also see:

When the dam breaks… — from learning with ‘e’s by Steve Wheeler

Excerpt:

Publication of research is one of the most important facets of academic life. I can’t stress enough how important it is for good research to be as widely and swiftly disseminated as possible. Without it, our practice is less likely to be informed, and more prone to repeated errors. As a researcher myself, I take this challenge very seriously. Along with other educational researchers, I attempt to identify key issues for investigation and then spend considerable time and energy examining as much of the terrain that surrounds my research question as I can. Once I have analysed the data, I am usually able to arrive at some conclusions and write some form of report, which is likely to include a set of recommendations that I hope will benefit my community of practice. Such findings should be published widely to inform the entire community. This is the way it should be. And yet often, sadly, it just doesn’t happen.

From DSC:
Steve, I was unsuccessful in leaving a comment on your posting here…but I celebrate your walking the talk on this and for pushing the envelop on the proliferation of open access journals. And thanks for making some recommendations in your reports — for taking some stances. I was greatly disappointed in my ID Master’s Program to find how few scholarly articles took any sort of stand and asserted much of anything to move their communities of practice forward.

 

 

This Visible College — from Educause (Vol. 34, No. 2, 2011) by Bryan Alexander

Excerpt:

In this column we’ll explore another part of higher education using only one scenario — but it’s a doozy.

“Class begins when the classroom door closes.” This image is enshrined in many practices, much popular memory, and even campus policies. But the concept may well be turned inside out in the near future as several trends coincide, altering the ways we teach and learn. That shut door is about to be wrenched open and our closed classes drawn into a global, visible college (compared to the invisible college described by David Staley and Dennis Trinkle1).

None of these supporting trends is mysterious or surprising:

  • Social media
  • Mobile computing
  • Open content

When these three trends combine, though, the synthesis surpasses each individual trend. What they do is turn the classroom inside out.

Everything I’ve described is happening now. What happens when these trends continue to grow and cross-pollinate?

 

Future of Higher Education — from Educause (Vol. 34, No. 1, 2011) by Bryan Alexander

Excerpt:

What does the future hold for higher education? How is American academia changing under the impact of continuous technological transformation?

The Future of Scholarly Publication
Scholarly publication is one of the most vital parts of higher education.4 Publications are in many ways the acme of faculty assessment: publish or perish. Our articles and books are the visible, enduring record of academic work, outlasting the lifespans of researchers, staff, and students. An entire industry both depends on and supports this output. Research output is deeply interwoven into many aspects of campus life, from hiring policies to library budgets and admissions materials. It is also a field in crisis, hammered by the Great Recession and torqued by ongoing technological revolutions.

PressForward: A new project aims to rethink scholarly communication for the age of new media journalism — from niemanlab.org by Tim Carmody

Excerpt:

How journalists communicate has been radically changed by the Internet. Is it time for the academic world to catch up?

Today, the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University launches PressForward, a new discovery portal and publishing platform for scholarship and intellectual discussion on the web.

The big idea of PressForward is to create a digital-first alternative to the cumbersome mechanisms of traditional gatekeepers — academic journals — while keeping main benefits of print publication and peer review: their ability to concentrate a community’s attention around the best emergent writing and research. The project is bankrolled through a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Digital Information Technology program.

Addendum on 6/28/11:

Video abstracts at the New Journal of Physics

Video abstracts at the New Journal of Physics

video abstract icon

Video abstracts are a brand new content stream for New Journal of Physics, aimed at increasing yet further the visibility of our authors and their work. Through this video media authors can now go beyond the constraints of the written article to convey their research, and provide a new, enhanced user experience for the journal’s global audience.

NJP articles with a video abstract are flagged with the video abstracts icon symbol. Full details about this new feature can be found in the video abstract guidelines. You can also read some of our author quotations.

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IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies TLT is a scholarly archival journal published quarterly using a delayed open access publication model.

IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT) is an archival journal published quarterly. TLT covers research on such topics as Innovative online learning systems, Intelligent tutors, Educational software applications and games, and Simulation systems for education and training.

The Web revolution, the popularity of on-line learning, and the broad availability of computers in schools, colleges, universities, workplaces and in other social settings has caused a qualitative change in the field of learning technologies. Both the variety and the complexity of e-learning tools have increased dramatically over the last 10 years. A number of new conferences emerged to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners in the field of learning technologies to discuss their work. Yet, there are very few journals, which embrace the field as a whole and provide a space to publish archival quality papers. The goal of IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT) is to bridge this gap.TLT covers all advances in learning technologies, including but not limited to the following topics:

  • Innovative online learning systems
  • Intelligent tutors
  • Educational software applications and games
  • Simulation systems for education and training
  • Collaborative learning tools
  • Devices and interfaces for learning
  • Interactive techniques for learning
  • Personalized and adaptive learning systems
  • Tools for formative and summative assessment
  • Ontologies for learning systems
  • Standards and web services that support learning
  • Authoring tools for learning materials
  • Computer support for peer tutoring
  • Learning via discovery, field, and lab work
  • Learning with mobile devices
  • Social learning techniques
  • Social networks and infrastructures for learning and knowledge sharing
  • Creation and management of learning objects

IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies
The IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies will publish archival research papers and critical survey papers. Topics within the scope include technology advances in online learning systems; intelligent tutors; educational software applications and games; simulation systems for education and training; collaborative learning tools, devices and interfaces for learning; interactive techniques for learning; tools for formative and summative assessment; ontologies for learning systems; standards and web services that support learning; authoring tools for learning materials; computer support for peer tutoring and learning via discovery or project work or field or lab work; and creation and management of learning objects. A paper must either describe original research or offer a critical review of the state of the art in a particular area. Papers concerned with evaluation of technology are only appropriate if the technology itself is novel or if significant technical insights are provided. In order to best serve the community, the TLT will be published online, using a delayed open-access policy under which paying subscribers and per-article purchasers have access to newly published content, and then 12 months after the publication of each issue, all readers will have access to the content, free of charge.

ITALICS — an e-journal for those involved with Computer Science

Welcome to ITALICS, Innovation in Teaching And Learning in Information and Computer Sciences, the electronic journal of the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Information and Computer Sciences (ICS). ITALICS provides a vehicle for members of the ICS communities to disseminate best practice and research on learning and teaching within the subject disciplines.
Scope

ITALICS aims to highlight current issues in learning and teaching Information and Computer Sciences at the Higher Education (HE) level including:

* Innovative approaches to learning and teaching
* Developments in computer-based learning and assessment
* Open, distance, collaborative and independant learning approaches
* The variety of contexts in which students in HE learn –
* Including work-based learning, placements and study visits
* Improving the student experience
* Continuous professional development
* The integration of theory and practice

ITALICS -- an e-journal for those involved with computer science

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Cardiology moves online -- iPad app
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As I sat down to review The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, which was provided to me as the online version, I wondered, how would this textbook look on my new iPad? Would it be readable? Would it be better than on my desktop? Would it be any better than a “real” textbook? Could this be a new era where information really does get to the bedside?

The short answer is yes—The ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine Online is very readable on the iPad, and as such I think it marks another step in the ongoing shift of information online, making it more mobile. But is an online textbook the answer to “point of care” information in medicine? No, but it is a very useful step forward in helping bring evidence-based information and guidelines to clinicians into day to day practice.

Springer announces new open-access journals — from __ by Jennifer Howard

The Springer publishing company today announced that it is setting up a new open-access journal program. Called SpringerOpen, the program will initially include 12 new online-only, peer-reviewed journals in science, technical, and medical fields.

The Chronicle sat down with Eric Merkel-Sobotta, Springer’s executive vice president for corporate communications, and Bettina Goerner, the company’s manager of open access, to talk about the program. (They were in town for the annual meeting of the American Library Association.) They emphasized that all SpringerOpen journals will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution license, which allows reuse of articles as long as the authors are given credit. So if you’re an instructor who wants to use a SpringerOpen article in a course you’re teaching, “you can include it in course packages without e-mailing Springer’s rights department,” Mr. Merkel-Sobotta said.

SpringerOpen.com

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E-Learning Journals — from e-taalim.com[via S. Downes]

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In Education Journal

Some examples:

Systemic Changes in Higher Education
Author(s): George Siemens | Kathleen Matheos

A power shift is occurring in higher education, driven by two trends: (a) the increased freedom of learners to access, create, and re-create content; and (b) the opportunity for learners to interact with each other outside of a mediating agent. Information access and dialogue, previously under control of the educator, can now be readily fulfilled by learners. When the essential mandate of universities is buffeted by global, social/political, technological, and educational change pressures, questions about the future of universities become prominent. The integrated university faces numerous challenges, including a decoupling of research and teaching functions. Do we still need physical classrooms? Are courses effective when information is fluid across disciplines and subject to continual changes? What value does a university provide society when educational resources and processes are open and transparent?

The Net Generation’s Informal and Educational Use of New Technologies
Author: Swapna Kumar

Harnessing New Technologies to Teach Academic Writing to the Net Generation
Author(s): Sean Wiebe | Sandy McAuley

Abstract:
While the ubiquity of Web 2.0 technologies disrupts conventional notions of schooling and literacy, its impact on learning is idiosyncratic at best. Taking the form of a dialogue based on the fifteen-week collaboration of two colleagues implementing an innovative first-year university writing course, this paper documents some of the successes and challenges they faced as they sought to create a space for those technologies in their classrooms.

© 2024 | Daniel Christian