give your online teaching a jolt

Give Your Online Teaching Give Your Online Teaching a JOLTa JOLT

Michelle Pilati, PhDProfessor of PsychologyRio Hondo College

Edward H. Perry, PhDProfessor of Mechanical EngineeringUniversity of Memphis

MERLOT International Conference: August 7-10, 2008

What IS JOLT?

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

community


A Brief History of JOLT

Conceived in January 2003First Issue Online in July 2005Twelve issues published to date104 papers published to dateAuthors from 6 countries and 4 continents


JOLT Growth Trends

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20

40

60

80

100

120

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

JOLT Submissions and Acceptances

Submissions

Acceptances


Current Issue of JOLT

Note: Each paper published in both HTML and PDF formats


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.


Type of Papers JOLT Seeks

Research Papers: Papers concerned with the scholarly use of multimedia educational resources in online learning and teaching. They include some measure of the learning impact on students.

Theoretical/Conceptual Papers: Papers that present non-empirical work related to the major issues of importance for future research or put a conceptualized problem in the context of previous research

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

• Electronic submission• Manuscripts in English• Microsoft Word• 6000 words maximum• APA Style Elements

http://jolt.merlot.org/guidelines.html


http://jolt.merlot.org/guidelines.html

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

• A minimum of two peer reviewers assigned to each manuscript

• Blind Reviews

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


Review Recommendations

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

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

resubmit for reconsideration by peer reviewers• 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 GuidelinesUse APA Style for citations, etc.Look over Review CriteriaAvoid “first person” (e.g. “I”, “We”, “our”…)Provide a Conclusion sectionSubmit manuscript before deadline passes!


JOLT Special Issue – June ‘08

Special Issue on Next Generation Course/Learning Management Systems

Nine papers in three themed sectionsMost popular paper viewed 479 times in first 30

daysOn average, each paper in issue viewed over 150

times in first 30 daysWiki provided for reader comments


JOLT Statistics – Past Year

34,800 visits to siteJune 08 => 5000+ visits78,200 pages viewed159 countries & 60 languages represented by visitorsJune ‘08 visits up 150% over June ’07140 manuscripts received70 Papers accepted for publication


Give Your Life a Big JOLT

Become a JOLT AuthorBecome a JOLT Peer ReviewerBecome a JOLT TranslatorTell Colleagues & Students about JOLTProvide Links to JOLT on websites you manage

(http://jolt.merlot.org)


Where Do We Go From Here?

• More Special Issue Themes within a regular issue (conferences, open calls,…)

• Abstracts also in Spanish and French?

• Accept papers in Spanish and French?

• Bimonthly publication schedule?


Questions?


give your online teaching a jolt

Documents