I’ve decided to repost the email I sent to subscribers to IRRODL, announcing this VERY special issue.  If you want to be one of the 5054 (and growing) IRRODL subscribers (its free) and get your very own email announcement of each new issue, rather than read this boring old blog, click here.

I am especially pleased with this special issue, partly because, I am becoming a connectivist evangelist, partially because this is the first full issue on Connectivsm in a peer reviewed Journal and certainly not least because Jon Dron and I have an article in it!

I usually shy away from publishing in IRRODL – too easy to be less than objective about reviewing and editing your own work!  But I took the opportunity of a hot topic, personal interest, great guest editors (who of course were ruthless in their reviews – making it a better article!!) and a brilliant co-author made this opportunity irresistible.

Here is the subscriber letter:

Connectivism is a powerful new learning theory that exploits the power of networks and networking to support learning. The term was first coined in 2004 by George Siemens (Athabasca University), who along with Grainne Conole (Open University, UK) is the guest editor of this issue. To our knowledge this is the first full peer-reviewed journal issue focused on connectivist ideas, ideals, practices, and criticism.The nine articles in this issue were winnowed from a much larger set of submissions to provide for you both supportive and critical commentary and research results, which I know you will find of interest.

Please feel free and encouraged to “connect” with colleagues by forwarding them an invitation to review this issue and/or to take out a free, ad-free subscription to IRRODL.

Our usual thanks to the authors, reviewers, and editors and to our sponsors, Athabasca University and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. And a special thanks to George and Grainne!!

Terry Anderson

Editor,

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning

Table of Contents

Editorial

Editorial
George Siemens, Grainne Conole

Research Articles

Interconnecting networks of practice for professional learning
Julie Mackey, Terry Evans
The challenges to connectivist learning on open online networks: Learning experiences during a massive open online course
Rita Kop
Emergent learning and learning ecologies in Web 2.0
Roy Williams, Regina Karousou, Jenny Mackness
EduCamp Colombia: Social networked learning for teacher training
Diego Ernesto Leal Fonseca
Three generations of distance education pedagogy
Terry Anderson, Jon Dron
Connectivism: Its place in theory-informed research and innovation in technology-enabled learning
Frances Bell
Frameworks for understanding the nature of interactions, networking, and community in a social networking site for academic practice
Grainne Conole, Rebecca Galley, Juliette Culver
Dialogue and connectivism: A new approach to understanding and promoting dialogue-rich networked learning
Andrew Ravenscroft
Proposing an integrated research framework for connectivism: Utilising theoretical synergies
Bopelo Boitshwarelo