Call for papers

Blended Learning as a Blueprint for Higher Education Transformation

The journal Progressio invites submissions for a special issue focused on ‘Blended Learning as a Blueprint for Higher Education Transformation.’ Progressio (ISSN 2663-5895) is a peer reviewed, open access, scholarly journal that offers researchers and practitioners in all aspects of teaching and learning in higher education the opportunity to publish their work. Progressio is accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training of South Africa.

Background:

 Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the return to face-to-face tuition, lecturers continue to transform their teaching by adopting new ways of teaching and using a combination of digital tools and face-to-face teaching in various educational contexts. Van Rensburg and Oguttu (2022) argue that there is gap in the literature on the implementation of blended learning in South African and African contexts in general, which needs to be addressed to help identify barriers to adopting blended learning. There is a need for blended learning to be explored further in the African continent, especially because it became the de facto mode of delivery in diverse university contexts during the pandemic and shortly thereafter. The Special Edition addresses this gap by sharing papers on blended learning design and practices in resource-constrained and technology-rich university environments in the African continent. What is novel and distinctive about the Special Edition is its scope and depth –it covers papers from blended learning design to learning support, access, success, and scholarship. It showcases blended learning modalities across universities in South Africa and in the African context.

The Special Issue responds to the theme, “Blended Learning as a Blueprint for Higher Education Transformation,” under the following sub-themes:

1. Blended Learning design: tools, models and designs that foster student engagement; collaborative writing; authentic assessment, innovative, flexible, and transformative pedagogies.
2. Efficacy of Blended Learning support, and student development: e-tutoring; e-mentoring and coaching; Supplemental Instruction; language and writing support and how these are experienced, measured and evidenced in Blended Learning spaces.
3. Reflexivity, criticality, and praxis in Blended Learning spaces: framing and focusing Blended Learning practices; bargaining for quality issues in Blended Learning spaces; insights from the review of Blended Learning scholarship; subjectivity and inwardness in the realization of BL access, success, and participation in Blended Learning spaces.

References:

Van Rensburg, E.D & Oguttu, J.W. 2022. Blended Teaching and Learning: Exploring the concept, barriers to implementation, designing learning resources.  South African Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 36 No. 6.

Submission:

Papers can be submitted at any time until the deadline as they will be published on an ongoing basis. 

Submission guidelines can be found at Progressio’s website:

https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/Progressio

Fees

In order to finance open access, Progressio requires authors of accepted articles to pay article processing charges (APCs). APCs are payable when the article has been accepted for publication and when an invoice has been delivered. APCs are used to cover all costs related to language editing, publishing, online hosting, and the archiving of each article.

The current rate is ZAR7 865 per article. These charges are reviewed annually.

The submitting author is responsible for the payment of the APC, which must be confirmed at the time of submission. All amounts are due within 30 days from invoicing. The article will only be published once full payment has been received.

Since Progressio encourages researchers from marginalised groups and communities to submit articles, authors could apply to be exempted from the APCs. Since each application will be considered on its own merit, a motivation needs to be provided. Upon acceptance of your manuscript for publication, send the application to the Editor-in-Chief. No author would be discriminated against in any way when exemption from the APCs is granted.

The deadline for manuscript submissions is 29 February 2024.

We hope that will you accept this invitation to share your innovative work with our readers.

 

Dr Nomakhaya Mashiyi, University of Fort Hare

Ms Siyanda Ntlabathi, University of Fort Hare

Dr Thabisa Mayisela, University of Cape Town