We are especially interested in proposals that develop emerging areas of research and conceptual/methodological innovations that will shape the future of the field and increase its impact on practice and policy.  For example, we welcome proposals that address topics including – and not limited to – teacher learning and design; learning and development as part of social activism; changing notions of expertise in transforming technological and relational contexts; analyses of learning at the intersection of race, equity, and technology development; methodological innovations foregrounding the ethical, political, cognitive, and socio-emotional dimensions of learning across the lifespan, possibly linking to new approaches to data analytics; and synergy-building across disciplinary perspectives and frameworks to understand key dimensions of learning.

 We encourage proposals that include and reflect international concerns and perspectives. Towards this end, proposal submissions may include names of suggested authors as well as their institutional affiliations and/or brief description of their geographic areas of expertise.

 Susan Jurow and Jianwei Zhang

Incoming Co-Editors in Chief

2021-2024

• Are you a PhD or Postdoc?
• Are you interested in Learning Sciences?
• Are you up for meeting peers and experts in the field?

1. Gutierrez, K. D. & Jurow, A. S. (2016). Social Design Experiments: Toward equity by design. 49 citations and 3268 views. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2016.1204548
2. Akkerman, S., & Bruining, T. (2016). Multilevel boundary crossing in a professional development school partnerships. 42 citations and 3656 views. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2016.1147448
3. Sannino, A. et al. (2016). Formative interventions for expansive learning and transformative agency. 38 citations and 3542 views. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2016.1204547 

Congratulations to all the authors!

The biggest change is the introduction of structured abstracts for regular and special issue articles (not Reports and Reflections). From now the structured abstract should be less than 200 words and have the following elements: Background, Methods, Findings, and Contribution. We hope that structured abstracts will help bring out the significance of the paper. "Background" can help to link the article to previous work in the field of the learning sciences and beyond it. "Contribution" goes beyond a conclusion based on empirical findings to what the article adds to the literature (i.e., why would future research refer to the findings? What are the implications).

For Reports and Reflection submissions we do not require a structured abstracts because these vary a lot in approach and are usually not empirical; the same for introductions to, and discussions of, special issues.

The second big change is that along with the abstract the article history is published: that is, the date the first version was received, and the date the final version was accepted by the editor. The editorial team will strive to keep the time to acceptance as short as possible, but authors also have na important role to play. Decision letters already ask for revised manuscripts to be submitted within the following timeline: 3 months for revise and resubmit decisions; 2 months for major revision; and 1 month for minor revision.

The first article using this new format has already been published. Example

We are excited to announce that for 2018 the editorial team has selected Angela Calabrese Barton and Anna Sfard for the recognition.

In this issue: constructing thematic interpretations (language arts); designing educational video games as objects to think with; learning science concepts from peer teaching (initial teacher education); and finding the best types of guidance for constructing self-explanations of sub-goals in programming.

https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hlns20/28/1?nav=tocList

In general, we are interested in proposals on emerging themes in the field. For example, proposals that take up the call for research that has impact on teaching and policymaking that was elaborated in a guest editorial in issue 27 (1); proposals on teacher education and professional development; proposals that consider social justice, power and ethics in the learning sciences; and so on. This list is not meant to limit the range of possibilities but to provide some examples of possible themes.

This call is part of a new strategy to publish about one special issue per year, as starting in 2019 JLS will publish 5 issues per year.

 Jan Van Aalst and Susan Yoon, Co-editors in Chief

Chi, M. T. H., Kang, S. & and Yagmourian, D. (2017). “Why students learn more from dialogue than monologue videos: Analyses of peer interactions”. JLS, 26 (1), 10-50. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2016.1204546

We are excited to announce that, beginning with volume 26 (2017), we have a created a new feature:  the annual Best Paper Published in JLS Award. The award recognises exceptional scholarship and contributions made to the field of the learning sciences via JLS, and permits reflection on the state of scholarship in the field beyond what is possible during the peer review process. Candidates for the award are nominated by the editors and associate editors, and the winner is selected by an external panel of distinguished learning scientists.

If you are attending ICLS in London, please come to the ISLS Open Business Meeting (Wednesday, 27 June, 11 am to 1 pm), where the first award will be presented. We'll publish the names of the recipients for 2017 here after the conference.

In the most recent webinar, Kevin O'Neill discussed his thought provoking Reports and Reflections article with Rogers Hall,Brian K. Smith and Josh Radinsky. O'Neill looked at big "failures" in modern architecture and urban design to see what we can learn from them for design research. In doing so, he makes a distinction between "designing for the future", that is, designing interventions that address conditions that we can reasonably expect to last, and "deigning the future", where one tries to create a new educational reality. The webinar especially explored faulty predictions and the unintended consequences of designs. Want to know more about what the picture shown here has to do with design research? Watch the full webinar video here. 

Interested in hosting your own webinar? Contact our web outreach coordinator Lillian Liu.