21 July 2013

Call for papers: "Ethical Issues, the Use of Online Discussion Boards, and Community Building by Way of Computer-Mediated Communication"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Web Based Communities.

In the field of tertiary education today, online discussion boards are used to assist teaching and learning. This new technology may be seen as a way to facilitate communication, collaboration, contribution, creativity and interaction among individuals and groups.

But it is not clear whether this type of computer-mediated communication also helps build community, or only exacerbates colonising tendencies and/or exclusion of particular parties, e.g. those that are other-literate, less ‘verbal’ and/or less computer-literate.

This special issue is aimed at a readership that includes higher education management, teaching and learning staff, tertiary education policy-makers and online lecturers.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
  • The standpoint of the moderator (in education, the teacher) who manages and facilitates the online environment
  • The moderator's motivation/s to erect an online discussion board
  • The moderator's context and how that affects what participants write and do not write
  • The moderator's timing of intervention
  • The moderator's communication style and related interaction between the moderator and the participants
  • The intention behind participation (e.g. to generate knowledge, as a form of self-study, to partake in a learning community, to broadcast one's own viewpoints, to improve one's writing skills, to have a sounding board)
  • Variations in the 'colour' and/or the emotional 'tone' of the online discussion board
  • Futurist perspectives on the use of online discussion boards
  • The purpose (role) of online discussion boards in the context of globalisation and a fluid modernity
Important Dates
Deadline for abstracts: 15 August, 2013
Deadline for papers: 15 September, 2013
Feedback on submissions: 15 October, 2013
Final notification of acceptance: 1 November, 2013

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