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C Varenhorst

E-learning Review Available on New Web Site

November 16, 2004

(From Tomorrow's Professor mailing list)

The Swiss Centre for Innovations in Learning (SCIL Switzerland) this fall announced, in a joint effort with the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL Stanford), the launch of a new web site on elearning to make it easier to track and review research literature in the field across its multiple disciplines, something that is difficult to do since the field is so vast.

The website, [http://www.elearning-reviews.org] provides those interested in research on elearning with concise and thoughtful reviews of relevant publications. The goals of the collaborative project are to provide ongoing updates, a solid base of existing literature from the various disciplinary perspectives, and the further the development of elearning as a scientific research-oriented discipline.

The project continually surveys new publications from a broad spectrum of journals, conferences, reports, and books. Each review is carefully written and critically reflects the publication in an accessible and concise manner so that readers can easily decide whether the publication is relevant to them. [http://www.elearning-reviews.org] offers a variety of useful ways to access its reviews. Users can browse the elearning classification scheme covering the wide range of elearning topics: Strategy, Quality, Pedagogy, Technology, Human-Computer Interaction, Change Management, and more. They can search for publications by specific authors or scan the lists of reviewed publications of particular journals or conferences.

[http://www.elearning-reviews.org] targets those at the intersection of elearning theory and practice. Researchers find relevant reviews from the different disciplines constituting elearning. Practitioners appreciate the wealth of research results they can put into practice. Students of elearning programmes will profit from the literature overview provided by the reviews sorted into helpful subject categories. The project was initiated by the Swiss SCIL, which maintains and continues to further develop the web site. The editorial team is made up of researchers from the Swiss SCIL, as well as researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland, and the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning. All three of the partner institutions will regularly contribute reviews to the website.

Reinhold Steinbeck, Director of SCILNet, the international program of the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning, and topic co-editor, hopes that "elearning-reviews.org could become the 'Google' of elearning, just better, because you know that what you will find will meet the highest standards." For more information visit the website: www.elearning-reviews.org

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