Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • Before submitting a manuscript for review, please evaluate whether the manuscript will meet the review guidelines: 1. The topic is of interest to Online Learning readership (i.e., on the topic of online education/teaching/learning; original, supported by empirical research and backed by data). For originality and interest to readers, you may wish to consult the Online Learning bibliography. 2. The manuscript’s organization is clear and its components are complete (Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Review of Related Literature, Research Questions, Methods, Results, Discussion/Conclusions/Recommendations, References, and Acknowledgments section, if applicable). 3. The research strategies and methods are appropriate and the choices for these strategies are explained with analyses of strengths, weaknesses, limitations and next steps. 4. Information is provided on the research design, participants and variables sufficient to allow others to replicate the study. 5. The manuscript is correct in grammar, punctuation, and APA style.
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word document file format.  The manuscript itself does not contain the author names or other identifying information. DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME ON THE MANUSCRIPT FOR REVIEW - THE PAPER WILL BE REJECTED.
  • When available, the URLs to access references online are provided, including those for open access versions of the reference. The URLs are ready to click (e.g., https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/online-learning-journal/).

  • The text is single-spaced; otherwise follows APA Style;and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. Your abstract should be a single paragraph, double-spaced. Your abstract should typically be no more than 250 words.

    The total length of the paper, including references, should not exceed 9,500 words.

  • The text otherwise adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements (APA 7th Edition) outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
  • Ensure your paper is blinded for review. DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME ON THE MANUSCRIPT FOR REVIEW - THE PAPER WILL BE REJECTED.   How do I ‘blind’ a paper for review? To ensure the integrity of the blind peer-review for submission to this journal, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. This involves the authors, editors and reviewers (who upload documents as part of their review) checking to see if the following steps have been taken with regard to the text and the file properties: 1. The authors of the document have deleted their names from the text, with ‘Author’ and year used in the references and footnotes, instead of the authors' name, article title, etc. 2. With Microsoft Office documents, author identification should also be removed from the properties for the file (see under File in Word), by clicking on the following, beginning with File on the main menu of the Microsoft application: File > Save As > Tools (or Options with a Mac) > Security > Remove personal information from file properties on save > Save. 3.
  • Please be sure that ALL authors are listed in the submission's metadata and that the author information is shown EXACTLY the way you want it to appear in the publication. (This is VERY important. If your paper is published, the author information is automatically transferred to the Table of Contents.)  You should not include your identifying information in the manuscript itself.  That information is stored in the submissions metadata.

Author Guidelines

Overview of Author Guidelines Online Learning uses general APA Style 7th Edition Style guidelines for its publications except where otherwise indicated.

Lessons From the Field

GUIDELINES FOR LESSONS FROM THE FIELD PAPERS A good practitioner-based manuscript will provide as much as possible of the following: 1. Background on a) the theory or theories, b) research results or other literature, and/or c) unique situation(s) that initiated the search for and design of the practice. 2. Sufficient detail about the setting (the institution, department, or program) so that readers can assess whether the practice may be applicable to their own setting. 3. Sufficient detail about the practice so that others may duplicate the practice if they desire to. 4. Evidence about the practice's outcomes, such as learning analytics, data on effectiveness, or other evaluation data. 5. Analysis of the practice's strengths and weaknesses. 6. Recommendations to others about use or modification of the practice. These manuscripts will use APA (7th Edition) for formatting and references. DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR LESSONS FROM THE FIELD PAPERS 1)Background: Brief information about the study (e.g., what initiated the need for the study; problem of practice(s)/problem statement: what is the issue(s) being studied; other literature relating to this problem; theory or theories) 2) Setting: where the problem and investigation occurred (e.g., type of institution or organization, department, or program) 3) Investigation & Practice: describe how the issue was studied and describe the practice that was derived from the outcomes/findings 4) Analysis: analyze the practice in terms of strength, weakness, further application in other settings 5) Recommendations: provide recommendations to others about using the practice, modifications of the practice, any future research needed 6) Please use APA: These manuscripts will use APA (6th Edition) for formatting and references.

Online Learning and Open Educational Resources for International, Rural and Hard-to-Reach Populations

The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks invites submission of papers for a special issue focusing on Online Learning and Open Educational Resources (OER) for international development. The articles will focus on reaching rural or other hard-to-reach populations using education technologies that work for these populations. Some of the tools will include OER, online learning, blended learning, and mobile learning. OERs are learning resources made publically available and free to use, modify and redistribute. These include books, presentation materials, assessments and other types of resources. Online and blended learning is being used throughout the developing world in formal and informal learning in a variety of contexts from classrooms to mobile platforms. The issue will also focus on educational transformation where students will be engaged in the creation of resources and participatory research that helps communities develop. Traditional vocational institutions, colleges and universities in emerging countries are facing unprecedented demand. Likewise, the demand for informal training is growing. Internet growth is on the verge of exploding and mobile platforms are already ubiquitous in many countries. Yet the scarcity of financial resources requires practitioners to develop creative solutions and innovative practices. Online and blended learning, and OER, offer promising solutions to meet demand and improve quality within the context of developing nations. This special issue will explore current applications, research and future directions for online learning and OER in the context of developing countries. Papers should present a research study, an analysis or detailed case study on the topic, including data where possible. Papers might focus on trends, project outcomes, road-tested methods and promising models including implications for online education where appropriate. Manuscripts are due February 15, 2013 for the May issue. Guest Editors: Christine Geith, Associate Provost, Executive Director MSUglobal, Michigan State University, cgeith@gmail.com Prof. John B. Kaneene, University Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology and Director, Center for Comparative Epidemiology, Michigan State University. Kaneene@cvm.msu.edu Karen Vignare, Director, MSUglobal, Michigan State University, vignare@msu.edu Alice Barlow-Zambodla, Programme Specialist | Saide- South African Institute for Distance Education, Alicebz@saide.org.za Catherine Ngugi, Project Director, OER Africa, a Saide initiative, catherine.ngugi@gmail.com Submission Information: To submit a paper, please review JALN guidelines and submit papers to http://jaln.sloanconsortium.org/.

Best Practices

GUIDELINES FOR LESSONS FROM THE FIELD PAPERS A good practitioner-based manuscript will provide as much as possible of the following: 1. Background on a) the theory or theories, b) research results or other literature, and/or c) unique situation(s) that initiated the search for and design of the practice. 2. Sufficient detail about the setting (the institution, department, or program) so that readers can assess whether the practice may be applicable to their own setting. 3. Sufficient detail about the practice so that others may duplicate the practice if they desire to. 4. Evidence about the practice's outcomes, such as learning analytics, data on effectiveness, or other evaluation data. 5. Analysis of the practice's strengths and weaknesses. 6. Recommendations to others about use or modification of the practice. These manuscripts will use APA (6th Edition) for formatting and references. DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR LESSONS FROM THE FIELD PAPERS 1)Background: Brief information about the study (e.g., what initiated the need for the study; problem of practice(s)/problem statement: what is the issue(s) being studied; other literature relating to this problem; theory or theories) 2) Setting: where the problem and investigation occurred (e.g., type of institution or organization, department, or program) 3) Investigation & Practice: describe how the issue was studied and describe the practice that was derived from the outcomes/findings 4) Analysis: analyze the practice in terms of strength, weakness, further application in other settings 5) Recommendations: provide recommendations to others about using the practice, modifications of the practice, any future research needed 6) Please use APA: These manuscripts will use APA (6th Edition) for formatting and references.

Copyright Notice

As a condition of publication, the author agrees to apply the Creative Commons – Attribution International 4.0 (CC-BY) License to OLJ articles. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

This license allows anyone to reproduce OLJ articles at no cost and without further permission as long as they attribute the author and the journal. This permission includes printing, sharing and other forms of distribution.

Author(s) hold copyright in their work, and retain publishing rights without restrictions

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