Submissions

This journal is not accepting submissions at this time.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).

  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word file format. The text is single-spaced; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.

  • The instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Author Guidelines

Submit to one of three journal sections: Syllabi, Toolbox, or Articles. The journal does not charge author fees, nor does it charge for access to its content.

General guidelines

  1. Your syllabi and articles should be between 1200 and 6000 words long. The Toolbox submissions may be shorter.
  2. Use the Abstract feature to provide the CONTEXT: What kind of course is this? How does it fit into a program? What is the primary student audience?
  3. You should have taught the course at least once within the last three years.
  4. Consistently adhere to any of the common reference styles accepted in your discipline (Chicago, MLA, APA).
  5. Use a Word file, default style set, consistently apply styles (Headings 1, 2, 3, Normal).

Syllabus entry

The syllabus you submit is not an exact copy of one you give your students. Think of it as a better version of your syllabus, one you would be preparing for the NEXT semester. Remove identifying information. At the minimum, your syllabus should include:

  1. The course’s title, description, and the mode of delivery (face to face, online, hybrid, etc.), classes format (one or twice a week, etc.).
  2. Start with an introductory essay, 1-3 pages, explaining your choices. It is not a part of the syllabus given to students. What part of your thinking is not apparent in the syllabus itself but will be useful to another professor?
  3. A description of what you would like your students to learn: learning objectives, course goals, aims, outcomes, or intended changes in your students. Any of these or your own categories will work, but there has to be a reason to teach the course. If applicable, indicate standards, institution-defined learning outcomes, and other source of inspiration that helped you define the aims of the course.
  4. How will you know if students learned what you tried to teach them? You may describe/include specific assessments or something else, but there should be a way of telling if you succeeded. Please include rubrics and scoring guides if any. For multiple choice tests, give a sample question and answers. If it is just your gut instinct, we still need to have a description of it.
  5. Readings, media and other content.
  6. Topical outline, preferably in combination with timeline. It helps to understand the pace of the course. However, use Week 1, Week 2 rather than actual dates.
  7. Student assignments and activities: What do they actually have to do in class and at home to learn? And what do you do to teach? While specific pedagogical moves are often omitted from syllabi, listing them helps to understand the course’s design.
  8. Course policies. We do not care for lengthy legal disclaimers your institution may impose, or your lab safety rules, or clean-up policy. However, it helps to know how you approach grading, attendance, plagiarism, homework, classroom environment, team work, and other policies directly related to learning.

Reviewer form for a syllabus entry

Please approach the submitted syllabus as a piece of original scholarship. Provide constructive and honest feedback to the author. Key criteria of evaluation:

  1. Originality:  Are there new ideas in course content and pedagogy?
  2. Communication: Would students understand the purpose and the structure of the course?
  3. Coherence: Do course aims match assessments and delivery strategy? Does the course organization make sense to you?
  4. Content: Is the breadth and depth of the course content appropriate for the audience (graduate, undergraduate; professional vs. service course.)
  5. Instruction: Is the instructional strategy likely to be successful in terms of success defined by the author?

Toolbox entry

A Toolbox entry should include a well-developed tool or fragment of the course, such as an assessment, a rubric, an activity, etc. Providing context is even more important here: it may be obvious to you, but not to your reader.

Reviewer form for a toolbox entry

Please approach the submitted pedagogical tool as a piece of original scholarship. Provide constructive and honest feedback to the author. Key criteria of evaluation:

  1. Originality:  Are there new ideas in the entry? Would you or other readers borrow and develop the idea?
  2. Effectiveness: Is this likely to be an effective way to teach or evaluate?
  3. Presentation: Is the tool presented well? Do you understand the context of its application?

Article

An article should be directly related to higher education pedagogy, and include an original claim, review of relevant literature, and well-structured argument. The journal will consider both theoretical and empirical articles, including those rooted in action research methodology.

Reviewer form for an article

Please approach the submitted syllabus as a piece of original scholarship. Provide constructive and honest feedback to the author. Key criteria of evaluation:

  1. Originality:  Is there a new idea, an original claim?
  2. Presentation: Is the article well-written, structured, and reasoned?
  3. Scholarship: Does the article consider previous scholarship?

 

 

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