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JOURNAL OF WORKPLACE LEARNING ISSN: 1366-5626 Call for Papers : e-Learning @ the Workplace With the advent of the Internet, electronically mediated corporate training and learning support efforts have exploded with growth and complexity. e- Learning, a recent development which has already had a great deal of impact upon the corporate training world, is beginning to penetrate a growing range of areas within the contemporary workplace, and is widely being promoted as a panacea to present-day skill-supply and just-in-time-just- enough training needs. While electronic learning presents a number of potentialities as a viable teaching tool, organisations should be wary of claims that e-learning is a one-size-fits-all medium that can comprehensively address all their training requirements. Indeed, an important set of issues that, as yet, has been relatively under-researched, is that concerning the extent to which e-learning as a medium can deliver the kind of skills demanded by the 'knowledge economy' characteristic of modern industrial societies. Nonetheless, there is tremendous pressure on organisations to at least be seen to be doing e-learning. Consequently many self-proclaimed e-learning providers provide 'quick fix' e-learning solutions, characteristically by translating existing paper-based course materials into HTML pages. This, of course, is a highly problematic practice. Moreover, it raises a series of questions as to what constitutes e-learning 'proper'. Is e-learning simply 'courses on the World Wide Web', or might the term encompass considerably more? What kinds of learning can be supported by e-learning? Furthermore, are advocates of e-learning attempting to bend learning to the will of technology, rather than vice versa? Papers are sought to explore the capacity of e-learning for strengthening corporate performance and building competitive advantage in the present-day workplace. Such papers might consider the extent to which the utilisation of technology can enhance the learning process and provide practitioners with the leverage to manage knowledge for organisational gain. Papers that are predominantly conceptual or empirical, case-study-based, or based on industry-wide-analyses are welcome. Contributed papers may deal with, but are not limited to: Defining and delineating e-learning approaches and practices; Assessing the benefits and drawbacks of e-learning as a medium for workplace learning; Exploring the potential and real applications of e-learning in managing organisational knowledge; The evaluation and maintenance of workplace e-learning; The impact of e-learning on organisations, work, and workers; Evaluating the costs of e-learning; Organisational requirements for successful e-learning; Pedagogical principles underlying the teaching and learning activities that constitute effective e-Learning; The Internet and organisational learning. All submissions must be in English, should represent original work done by the author(s), and must NOT have been published, accepted for publication, or be presently under consideration for publication elsewhere. Articles for this call are expected to be "academic" in terms of rigor, but "managerial" in terms of readability and practical content. Papers are invited from both research and practice. A 500-word abstract should be sent, for guidance on appropriateness, to Chris Seow and Jason Hughes by e-mail no later than by 31st October 2003. Notification of provisional acceptance will be given by 6th December 2003. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the submission guidelines of the Journal of Workplace Learning (JWL) http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals/jwl/notes.htm). Reviews of the submitted manuscripts will proceed in accordance with JWL's editorial policy. Submissions should be by electronic transmissions ONLY (using a Word file attachment) and must be sent to Guest Editors, Chris Seow and Jason Hughes by 25th May 2004. Guest Editors: Chris Seow Business School University of East London United Kingdom RM8 2AS Tel: 020 8 223 2429 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Jason Hughes Centre for Labour Market Studies University of Leicester United Kingdom LE1 7QR Tel: 0116 252 5949 E-mail: [log in to unmask]