Call for Editors of ALT Online Newsletter

This is the 2014 call for an Editor in Chief and two Deputy Editors of ALT Online Newsletter.

About ALT Online Newsletter

The ALT Online Newsletter is a news blog published on a continuous basis by the Association for Learning Technology. It contains a wide range of articles, including news, opinion pieces, project updates, case studies, book reviews, “a week in the life” summaries of the work of people in the learning technology field, event updates.

The Newsletter aims to publish at a rate of one article per week.

The audience for ALT Online Newsletter is international.

Learning technology is the broad range of communication, information and related technologies that can be used to support learning, teaching, and assessment. Founded in 1993, ALT is the UK’s leading membership organisation in the learning technology field. ALT’s aims are improving practice, promoting research, and influencing policy. ALT’s publications, including the newsletter,exist to support these aims. Potential categories of  submission include:

• a review (of software, a book or other publication, or a conference or event)
• a project report (for example a summary of a research or development project with links to further information)
• a case study (for instance an account of your department or institution’s experiences implementing a particular technology)
• a summary of a discussion (discussions on the JISCmail list are a good source for summary articles)
• a preview or follow up piece linking to an article in Research in Learning Technology or another of ALT’s publications
• interviews (of the week in the life style, or with influential and inspiring learning technology people)
• reports of ALT SIG and RIG events and activities

Unless otherwise indicated articles are © their author(s) and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License.

The role and tasks of the Deputy Editors

The Editors are responsible to ALT for the overall quality and integrity of the newsletter and the timely publication of articles.

The Editors are required to

1. Commission, co-ordinate and edit articles for the newsletter;
2. Format and prepare articles for publication on the WordPress platform;
3. Liaise on a timely basis with:

• each other;
• authors;
• the Publications Manager of ALT and other relevant ALT staff;
• the Chair of the ALT Communication and Publications Committee;

4. Provide brief written and verbal reports to the Communication and Publications Committee.
5. Lead new initiatives related to the newsletter, as appropriate.

In addition, it is essential that the Editors keep generally abreast of new developments in the learning technology domain and with activities within the Association.

We anticipate the combined involvement of the editorial team to be 3-4 hours per week.

The role and tasks of the Editor in Chief

The Editor in Chief is required to:

1. Have overall responsibility for facilitating continuous publication of suitable articles;
2. Assist the deputy editors in sourcing articles;
3. Schedule articles for publication according to the publication schedule;
4. Co-ordinate the activities of deputy editors;
5. Liaise on a timely basis with:

• Deputy editors;
• the Publications Manager of ALT and other relevant ALT staff;
• the Chair of the ALT Communication and Publications Committee;

6. Sit on the Communication & Publications Committee of ALT and to provide regular reports to it.
7. Lead new initiatives related to the newsletter, as appropriate.

How to express an interest

To express an interest in either of these roles, please email Matt Lingard (Chair of the ALT Communication and Publications Committee) and Maren Deepwell (Chief Executive, ALT) via maren.deepwell@alt.ac.uk by no later than 17.00 BST Friday, 29 August 2014.

If you would like to discuss either of the roles informally feel free to contact Maren Deepwell, Chief Executive, by email (maren.deepwell@alt.ac.uk) or by phone (01865 484 405).