Journal of Media Enhanced Learning

The Media Enhanced Learning SIG (MELSIG) has put out a call for papers on the use of images to enhance learning in post compulsory education. The call signals a commitment to establish the Journal of Media Enhanced Learning (JMEL), an idea that has been vaunted amongst the MELSIG community for some time, but which has been in need of an extra bit of energy beyond that which is absorbed by planning the popular MELSIG events and publishing the most recent MELSIG book Smart Learning – teaching and learning with smartphones and tablets in post compulsory education. With the latter project involving 29 contributors completed in April, there has been space to develop the new open journal.

JMEL, like MELSIG itself, focuses on how learning is being enhanced through the use of social media and user-generated digital media. To ensure it remains manageable and to optimize the impact of contributions JMEL will publish two Special Focus Issues each year. This approach ensures that a concerted discourse results from the publication of each issue with the aim that the issue becomes a focus for ideas and inspirational good practice on the focus topic.

The first call is what must surely be the low hanging fruit of media enhanced learning. Titled ‘A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words’, the issue will put the focus on the use of images by teachers and students. With the proliferation of personal digital cameras in smartphones and tablets and a wider held understanding of Creative Commons licences for images, JMEL expects to receive a good range of research papers, case studies of practice, ideas papers, and Viewpoints papers. It is also open to suggestions for scholarly contributions using other media, as you might hope.

The journal is currently recruiting volunteers to its Editorial Group and a pool of peer reviewers. MELSIG welcomes and is supportive of people with an interest, but who have not yet ventured into sector-wide roles. Peer reviewers and authors can register on the JMEL site (http://research.shu.ac.uk/JMEL) and people interested in having an editorial role should contact Andrew Middleton who leads the MELSIG community.

MELSIG is online at: http://melsig.shu.ac.uk/

Andrew Middleton is Head of Innovation & Professional Development at Sheffield Hallam University.

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