Special Issue on: "Social Networking Sites for Formal Learning"



Editor:
Dr. Qiyun Wang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore



In recent years, social networking sites such as Facebook, Google +, Twitter, weblogs and wikis have been popularly used by young people and adults to share information and interact with each other. These platforms were not initially designed for educational purposes. Like any new technology, however, they have great potential for teaching and learning.



The objectives of this special issue are twofold. They are firstly to share pedagogical, social and technical affordances of social networking sites for formal learning in the secondary school or tertiary education context, and secondly to address implementation issues, concerns or challenges that teachers or students may have when they are using social networking sites in real practice. The discussion in this special issue will have implications for the effective use of social networking sites in education.



The issue welcomes conceptual papers on technological affordances and challenges of social networking sites for teaching and learning, and empirical research papers and case studies about using social media to support teaching and learning in various contexts.


Subject Coverage



Suitable topics include but are not limited to:



Social networking sites (e.g. weblog, wiki, Facebook, Twitter) for learning
Pedagogical, social and technical affordances of social media for teaching and learning
Web 2.0 tools for teaching and learning
Issues and concerns with using social media for learning
Web-based collaborative and interactive learning
Using social media to support collaborative learning
Formal learning with social technologies
Interactive and social learning
Course design and development based on social media


Notes for Prospective Authors



Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. (N.B. Conference papers may only be submitted if the paper was not originally copyrighted and if it has been completely re-written).



All papers are refereed through a peer review process. A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers are available on the Author Guidelines page.


Important Dates



Full paper submission: 30 September, 2012



Notification of acceptance: 15 November, 2012



Final submission: 31 December, 2012


Editors and Notes



All papers must be submitted online. To submit a paper, please go to Online Submissions of Papers. If you experience any problems submitting your paper online, please contact submissions@inderscience.com, describing the exact problem you experience. Please include in your submission the title of the Special Issue, the title of the Journal and the names of the Guest Editors