Announcing Release of OLJ Special Issue on AERA Online Teaching and Learning SIG

On behalf of the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), publisher of the open access Online Learning Journal (OLJ), we are pleased to announce the publication of the OLJ’s December 2023 issue. The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is an international society that “strives to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good”. The Online Teaching and Learning (OTL) SIG is a group of over 200 AERA members who discuss and disseminate challenges and possibilities relating to online teaching and learning. SIG OTL and the OLC have maintained a long-standing collaboration to advance online, blended, and digital learning theory and practice. Since 2016, the OLJ has released a special issue to extend opportunities for SIG OTL members to contribute their expertise in online education research. 

The 16 papers selected for this issue represent innovative and diverse topics using various research methods. Dr. Patrick Lowenthal of Boise State University and Dr. Robert Moore of the University of Florida served as guest editor for this special issue and have grouped articles into five themes: 1. Measurement and analysis; 2. Equity, Inclusion, Advocacy, Embodiment; 3. Modality; 4. Openness; and 5. Philosophy & Theory.

In addition to the special issue from the AERA Online Teaching and Learning SIG, the December issue of the OLJ includes five articles from our regular submission process. These articles cover a broad range of topics including the evolving role of writing centers in support of online learners, humanizing online pedagogy, learner readiness in online and other digital contexts, and an intriguing investigation of online and classroom student outcomes. 

Many thanks to Patrick Lowenthal and Rob Moore for their work on the special issue of the journal.  Many hours were devoted to curating, communicating, and editing this extensive issue and we are grateful for all of their efforts.  Also a huge thank you to our other editors, authors, reviewers, copyeditors and the staff at OLC for their many contributions to support the success of the journal.  

Please consider joining OLC, our publisher, as a community, professional or institutional member.  The Online Learning Consortium provides support that allows OLJ to continue to publish as an open access journal, providing free access to scholarship as a service to the field.  Your support, even as a free community member, is a way to give back to OLC and support our mission to remain open access and free.

Dr. Peter Shea

Editor-in-Chief: Online Learning Journal

University at Albany, State University of New York