Giving Your Vitae a JOLT

Michelle PilatiProfessor of Psychology

Rio Hondo College

Edward H. PerryProfessor of Mechanical Engineering

University of Memphis

What IS JOLT?

• Journal of Online Learning and Teaching• Peer-reviewed online journal • Published quarterly• Papers of interest to the online learning

community

A Brief History

• Conceived in New Orleans – 2003• Formal Board Approval at MIC in 2004• First Issue Online – July 2005• Eight issues published to date

Growth Trends

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Number of Manuscripts Received & Number Published

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Published

http://jolt.merlot.org

JOLT's Mission

The objectives of MERLOT JOLT are to:

• Enable faculty to use technology effectively in teaching and learning by learning from a community of researchers and scholars;

• Enable academic programs to design and deploy academic technology to optimize teaching and learning;

• Build a community around the research and scholarly use of multimedia educational resources.

JOLT's Mission

JOLT welcomes papers on all aspects of the use of online multimedia educational resources for learning and teaching. Topics may include, but are not limited to: learning theory and the use of multimedia to improve student learning; instructional design theory and application; online learning and teaching initiatives; use of technology in education; innovative learning and teaching practices.

Types of Papers JOLT seeks

• Research Papers: Full-length papers concerned with the scholarly use of multimedia educational resources in learning and teaching. These papers discuss the literature on the scholarly use of multimedia resources in teaching. They show applications in actual online teaching situations, and include some measure of the learning impact on students.

Types of Papers JOLT seeks

• Theoretical/Conceptual Papers: These papers present non-empirical work related to the scholarly use of multimedia resources in teaching and learning in order to determine major issues of importance for future research, to understand these issues in relation to theory and application, to find the frontier of research on a problem, to relate a problem to existing theory, or to put a conceptualized problem in the context of previous research.

Types of Papers JOLT seeks

• Position Papers: Describe a problem or an issue with a suggested solution or direction. These papers should support the position with both a logical argument and a review of the theory and/or the research literature.

• Case Studies: Case studies highlight a particular instructional challenge and setting in which multimedia resources were used to address that challenge.

• Instructional Design Notes: Brief papers that describe a new online learning object and may include a MERLOT peer review or suggestions for use in the classroom.

Guidelines for Authors http://jolt.merlot.org/guidelines.html

• Electronic submission

• Microsoft Word

• 6000 words maximum

• APA Style Elements

Submission Deadlines

• February 28th for June Issue

• May 31st for September Issue

• August 31st for December Issue

• November 30th for March Issue

Peer Review Process

• Currently two reviewers assigned to each manuscript

• Blind Reviews

• Reviewers use a set of criteria developed by JOLT Editorial Board

Peer Review Process

• Reviewers asked to make general comments and specific revision recommendations

• Reviewers asked for a publication recommendation

• Editors use reviews to make final publication decision

Peer Review Criteria

• The paper is appropriate for JOLT.        • The paper is both useful and relevant to online

learning and teaching.          • The paper has theoretical or pedagogical

value.          • The paper adds significantly to the literature of

online learning and teaching.          

Peer Review Criteria

• The paper follows the JOLT Guidelines for Authors.     

• The material in the paper is current.      

• The paper is well organized and its conclusions well supported.       

Peer Review Criteria

• The paper provides adequate documentation.            

• The included links and media files enhance the paper.           

• The paper makes good use of the electronic medium.           

• The illustrations, figures, and tables are necessary and adequate.   

Types of Review Recommendations

• Accept without revision• Accept with minor revision; does not require

reconsideration by peer reviewer• Major revision needed; must revise and

resubmit for reconsideration by peer reviewer

• Not suitable for publication in JOLT

Review Summary

• Sent to author of each paper• Summarizes the blind reviews• Includes a rating on each review criterion

and comments from each reviewer• Editors also provide a summary of

“required revisions” for publication

Manuscript Revision Process

• Review Summary typically sent to authors within two months of submission deadline

• Once conditional acceptance is received, one month is allotted for final revisions

• The process moves very quickly due to the use of online submission and reviews

Suggestions for Potential Authors • Review articles from previous issues for style,

approach, appropriate topics etc. • Follow JOLT Guidelines• Use APA Style for citations, etc.• Look over Review Criteria• Avoid “first person” (e.g. “I”, “We”, “our”…)• Provide a Conclusion section• Submit manuscript before deadline passes!

JOLT Special Issue – June 2008

Next Generation Learning/Course Management Systems

• Open source vs commercial environments • Faculty/Student/IDS/IT perspectives • Social Knowledge and the L/CMS • A 'Second Life': the role of Virtual Worlds in

new learning environments

JOLT Special Issue – June 2008

Next Generation Learning/Course Management Systems

• Best practices in teaching within the L/CMS • Engaging learners: features of the L/CMS

that contribute to meaningful learning • New options in creating synchronous e-

learning

JOLT Special Issue – June 2008

Next Generation Learning/Course Management Systems

• Next Generation "smart" system features for the L/CMS

• e-Portfolio thinking as L/CMS • The place of reusability in the closed course shell • Web 2.0, Personal Learning Environments and the

L/CMS

Questions??