UPDATE: JCAL Special Issue on 'Learning Analytics in Massively Multiuser Games, Virtual Environments and Courses' (clarification of scope and extension of proposal-submission deadline)

Dear colleagues,

Following the posting of the Call for Papers for the abovementioned special issue of the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, several prospective authors have enquired as to what constitutes a 'massive' number of learners for the purposes of the special issue. While this special issue is intended to be about the use of learning analytics with very large numbers (hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands) of students, scholars who have conducted or are conducting studies with slightly smaller student numbers should not be discouraged from submitting proposals – particularly if they are able to show proof of concept for larger-scale applications. The editors are especially likely to consider studies on learning analytics in immersive simulations, games and virtual worlds involving fewer participants, since the use of such environments as part of massive courses remains in its infancy. However, it will be necessary for the authors to include a detailed discussion of how what is being reported or proposed might be scaled to accommodate a 'massive' situation.

The deadline for the submission of proposals (500-word abstracts plus 7-10 key references) has now been extended by one week, to 7 October 2013. The deadline for submission of full manuscripts remains at 27 January 2014.

The Call for Papers has been updated accordingly:

http://goo.gl/2STf3V .

Kindly share this with others at your institutions and within your networks who you think might be interested. Once again, queries should be directed to jcal.specialissues@gmail.com , but note that proposals and full manuscripts are not to be sent to this address (see the Call for Papers for submission instructions).

Kind regards,


Paul A. Kirschner (Open University of the Netherlands), JCAL Editor-in-Chief
Liesbeth Kester (Open University of the Netherlands), JCAL Associate Editor
Mark J. W. Lee (Charles Sturt University), JCAL Editor-in-Charge of Special Issues