Free online journals & resources

With PBRF being a focus for many tertiary educators, I’m often asked about where to find up to date professional journals where articles and reserach efforts may be published. Here are a couple of relatively new ones to the scene.

Thanks to CIT inforbits for the first reference –
The MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT) is a peer-reviewed, online publication addressing the scholarly use of multimedia resources in education. MERLOT is a free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students of higher education.
The objectives of JOLT are to:

  • Enable faculty to use technology effectively in teaching and learning by learning from a community of researchers and scholars;
  • Enable academic programs to design and deploy academic technology to optimize teaching and learning;
  • Build a community around the research and scholarly use of multimedia educational resources.

JOLT welcomes papers on all aspects of the use of multimedia educational resources for learning and teaching. Topics may include, but are not limited to: learning theory and the use of multimedia to improve student learning; instructional design theory and application; online learning and teaching initiatives; use of technology in education; innovative learning and teaching practices.

Thanks to Richard Elliott for drawing my attention to this international online journal published by the university of Adelaide. Tertiary Learning and Professional Development (TLPD) allows practitioners in tertiary education (higher education, universities and colleges, technical and further education) to publish evidence-based papers that demonstrate a direct link between organisational and staff development activities and teaching, learning and support outcomes. This peer-reviewed journal publishes original papers and literature reviews that show the impact that development activities have on the quality of learning and teaching in tertiary institutions. You can submit a paper for consideration and peer-review, or receive email notification when a new issue is published by following the directions on the home page.

Another site that’s worth a visit if you’re looking for more online journals is Infomine which offers a search of online journals in a variety of disciplines.

While I’m at it, Richard also sent a link to the Boots Learning Store . I’ve quite a bit of time exploring the numerous learning objects that can be found on this site – and the graphics are great – my kids love it! Not bad from a chemist store from Nottingham!

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