Call for papers: Educational Research in 2010

The special edition of Educational Research in 2010 will focus on learning in and from virtual worlds (where a virtual world is defined as an environment within which users are represented by and operate through an avatar and can interact with others over the internet or local area network). This call for papers invites reports of original research, reviews of recent research and discussion articles from colleagues working in the area.

Articles must be accessible to the generalist reader and relevant to the journal’s international readership. Contributions from outside the UK are welcome.

We are particularly interested in articles that:

• Provide a meta-analysis (review) of published educational research in this area.
• Provide models/frameworks for thinking about virtual worlds and how they can be used in education.
• Suggest ways in which future virtual worlds might be designed to enhance their educational potential (for example by drawing on techniques from online/serious games).
• Explore previously unpublished evidence about the educational benefits and/or pitfalls of using virtual worlds (in certain ways in specific contexts) – and in so doing provide exemplars of and guidance on the effective educational use of virtual worlds.
• Discuss the implications of virtual worlds for practitioners and ‘physical-world’ learning (including future education systems and learning in contexts where access to ICT is restricted).

Papers should have a clear focus on ways in which virtual worlds might impact on pedagogy and educational practice.

Articles should begin with a structured abstract, include up to six keywords, and should not normally exceed 5,000 words.

For further guidance on submission, including instructions for structured abstracts, see the journal website at http://www.informaworld.com/EdResearch – select the Instructions for Authors tab.

Articles must be submitted by email to the Guest Editor, Peter Twining at P.Twining@open.ac.uk by 14th July 2009 at the latest. Emails must be clearly labelled ‘ER Virtual Worlds Special Issue 2010 submission’. Late submissions cannot be considered.