Winter 2008    
ISSN 1096-1453    
Volume 12, Issue 4     Editorial (1)
This issue of Academic Exchange Quarterly contains a number of excellent
submissions concerning online learning. Such issues as online discussion forums,
teaching strategies for online instruction, teaching writing online, using online
book clubs, and even educational photo logs (“eduphlogs”) are explained. Instructors
from Cal Poly, Texas A&M, University of Baltimore, North Carolina A&T, Florida Gulf
Coast University, and those from a handful of other higher education institutions
have engaged in online learning. These valuable articles are designed to help us
as educators to improve our teaching via this medium.
Online instruction instruction is growing, and I am cheered by the increasing numbers
of submissions AEQ receives on this topic. More instructors are using this new
instructional venue—taking chances, experimenting, working toward more effective
delivery. It is interesting to see also how colleagues react to online instruction.
There are those who are reluctant to try something new and intend to remain within
their own zone of comfort. There are those who are willing to try online
learning—but only a little at a time—and they are the colleagues who supplement
their traditional course delivery with online work. There are others who are more
venturesome but wish to retain traditional delivery with a change in course location
by using online instruction as the classroom space. Those are the instructors who
teach hybrid or blended courses. Finally, there are those who teach entirely online:
The traditional face-to-face environment has been replaced by online activity of
varying and fascinating pedagogical methods. There is a great transition going on
in education.
That is why I am enthusiastic about the forthcoming Volume III of Sound Instruction:
Ready to Use Classroom Practice (ISBN 0-9709895-1-3) which will be published next
year. Contained in this volume will be best articles focusing on “Online Learning,”
an ongoing feature of AEQ. The volume will be a rich source of information about
various methods of using learning management systems, blogs, wikis, listservs, and
streaming video for online instruction. Additionally, the content of these articles
will demonstrate the ingenuity of our colleagues in using the Internet for many
different educational purposes. This text will be the result of several years of
first-rate articles published in our journal. Please make a note to order this volume
for your personal use or for your institution’s library.
Volume II of Sound Instruction is now at the printer and is a collection of articles
on assessment, consultation/collaboration, and online learning (ISBN 0-9709895-1-2).
This excellent volume was co-edited by Melinda Pierson and Kristin Stang from
California State University at Fullerton and me from the University of Northern
Colorado. Since online learning encompasses a wide range of benefits, assessment
and consultation/collaboration fit easily within its purview. Both volumes II and
the forthcoming III will be well worth acquiring.
With this issue, “Online Learning” continues as a major feature of Academic Exchange
Quarterly. There will be more articles on this topic in succeeding issues. If you
have a manuscript regarding “Online Learning” that you would like to share with our
readers, please let me know. I’ll be glad to send you the particulars on how to get
your submission into the que for our journal’s peer-review process. Many excellent
teaching ideas are shared in this way, so why not share yours with your colleagues?
You won’t find a more appreciative audience.
Ben Varner, Ph.D., Professor of English
University of Northern Colorado
E-mail: ben.varner@unco.edu
See all published ONLINE articles.
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