Brett Bligh | Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, UK |
This special issue will consider the broad and developing range of relationships between teaching practices and processes of digital transformation.
Relationships between teachers and digital technologies have never been simple or smooth. Technologies have sometimes been positioned as supporting learner centred pedagogies in ways that have served to disparage ‘teaching’. Specific technologies and systems have placed additional burdens on the routines of teaching practice, while device failures have led to ongoing distrust by many practitioners. And teachers have been hounded by persistent pressures to engage in more digital innovation and to develop ever greater forms of technological expertise. Yet the experience has not been unremittingly negative. Used appropriately and in ways sensitive to context, digital technologies have empowered teachers to explore new pedagogical practices, connect students with a wider range of people and resources, support collaborative knowledge production, and even to better engage with reticent or disadvantaged students.
Recent times have seen drives to deepen and broaden the incorporation of digital technologies into teaching practices, and—especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic—to accelerate the pace of the associated change. Digital transformation is a contested and problematic term, which, having originated in other spheres, has been only awkwardly appropriated into educational research. Yet it correctly draws attention to important relationships that link this ongoing drive to innovate pedagogical practices using digital technologies with a range of other issues—institutional structures, strategies, and management; educational business models and links with stakeholders in other sectors; and changes in economic models, political agendas and associated ideologies within those broader societies in which educational systems are situated. The impact of such issues has been extensive, yet it has most often been noted with regard to educational systems and institutions.
In this edition of Studies in Technology Enhanced Learning, we wish to consider the implications specifically from the point of view of teachers, teaching and/or teaching practices. The present special issue will explore some of the varied roles, practices, forms of expertise, and identities of teachers in times of digital transformation. It will explore the implications for teaching practices, including as these are increasingly distributed across teaching teams that incorporate new professional roles. It will incorporate accounts of pedagogical change, instructional design, and the integration of new technologies into practice for particular purposes. It will acknowledge teaching as a form of labour, grappling with accounts of workload and work/life balance. And it will critique the underlying processes, agenda and ideologies from the specific “frontline professional” perspective of teachers and other staff involved in teaching practices.
In line with the aims and scope of the journal, we aim to encourage submissions that take a critical stance, highlight the importance of context, are written in a way that can engage an international audience, and which maintain high standards of scholarship.
We do not wish to prescribe the topics or stances of the papers that might be submitted to the Special Issue. Any paper that engages with issues of teaching practices in times of digital transformation will be considered for inclusion.
We envisage that papers might come in a range of lengths and formats. When submitting your proposal please indicate the kind of paper you wish to contribute. Though the list is not exhaustive, you may wish to specify one of the categories below.
Synthesis paper (6,000-12,000 words).
Standard paper (4,000-8,000 words).
Commentary (2,000-4,000 words).
Book review (1,000-3,000 words).
All articles will be double-blind peer-reviewed, apart from clearly labelled editorials and invited commentaries. Articles will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0).
Please submit a provisional title and abstract (200-500 words), with authors and affiliations, by email to Brett Bligh ( [email protected] ).
Indicative timings are:
03 October 2022: Title and abstracts due
10 October 2022: Authors notified of acceptance with brief editorial comments
21 November 2022: First drafts of papers due
16 December 2022: Peer reviews returned
16 January 2023: Revised manuscripts due
13 February 2023: Authors receive typeset versions for checking
06 March 2023: Publication of articles commences