Editor’s note: Why an eMonograph and how to conduct digital peer review?

Over the years the North Carolina Middle School has published a number of fine monographs. These publications, usually totaling 40-50 pages, have provided educators with information on important issues at a depth that is greater than a journal article can offer. In 2009, when the Board of Directors suggested a need for a monograph on “future ready learning,” I invited Bob Houghton to share some of his scholarly work on digital learning. Bob is a friend, colleague, and humble expert on learning and teaching with technology. Reading his web-publications had helped me understand issues related to digital learning better than anything else I had read. We decided to try an “eMonograph” format to match medium with message, with the same basic purpose of investigating an issue in a depth beyond the means of a single article. We decided to focus on basic questions of digital learning itself. Thus began what has become “Learning literacy in the digital age: Challenges and opportunities in the middle grades.”

As Bob and I began to collaborate, I found I had a few ideas that I wanted to share. My role evolved from editor to editor/collaborator. We realized we would have to consider a different approach to our customary peer review process. For one reason, the editor was now an author. For another, web-based publication requires peer reviewers familiar with web genre. To address these issues, we initiated a series of conversations with the NCMSA Publications Committee and developed a strategy that proved productive. Kathy Roney, a member of the committee and expert in middle grades research, agreed to serve as Lead Reviewer. In this role, she developed criteria for evaluation and recruited reviewers so that neither Bob nor I would know who the reviewers were or what their expectations for scholarly publication in a digital format might be. Kathy conducted the review, synthesized comments and suggestions, and sent them to Bob and me. We revised the work accordingly and reported all changes to Kathy.

Now that the review is complete and the eMonograph ready to publish, I want to thank our reviewers. Their names are listed below.  Their comments and suggestions greatly enhanced the quality and depth of this publication. So that readers will know exactly how Kathy conducted the review, I have attached her invitation to reviewers and her rubric as an appendix to this note.

We hope that this is the first in a series of eMonographs. Please share your suggestions in the blog spaces indicated. If you wish to send a more personal critique, please email me at Strahan@email.wcu.edu

Happy eReading!

David Strahan
Editor, North Carolina Middle School Publications

Members of the NCMSA eMonograph Editorial Review Board

Kathleen Roney, Ed.D. (Lead Reviewer)
Associate Professor and Middle Grades Program Coordinator
UNC Wilmington, Watson School of Education

Dr. Jeremy Dickerson
Associate Professor of Instructional Technology
Spadoni College of Education, Coastal Carolina University

Melissa Hedt
Literacy Coach
Asheville Middle School, Asheville City Schools

Sally Hundley
Lead Teacher
Waynesville Middle School, Haywood County Schools

Cogie Reed
Teacher
Parkway School, Watauga County Schools

Rajni Shankar-Brown
Assistant Professor
UNC Wilmington, Watson School of Education

Appendix

Invitation from Kathy Roney, May 2010

We would like to create an Editorial Review Board for the e-Monograph to be published by the North Carolina Middle School Association. In time we hope to make this a series—the NCMSA e-Monograph editorial review board will conduct blind reviews of manuscript submissions. For such it is advised that we collaborate with colleagues from the library, technology, scholarly, and educational fields (see Wittenberg references below).
If you know of anyone (names and contact information) from these fields that we might invite to serve on this board, please let me know as soon as possible. I will send an “invitation” to those you suggest asking them to join the NCMSA e-Monograph editorial review board. I will look, too, for at least three of them to review the e-monograph submitted by Dave and Bob. These reviewers would be in addition to those of you who already agreed to review our first e-monograph.

Please also take a look at the attached review form in its first draft. Suggestions are welcome. Time is of the essence in both identifying members for the editorial review board and in finalizing the review form. I appreciate your getting back to me as soon as possible.

REFERENCES

Wittenberg, K. (2003). Scholarly editing in the digital age. The Chronicle Review. Retrieved July 14, 2010 from http://chronicle.com/article/Scholarly-Editing-in-the/18724/
Wittenberg, K. (2004, November/December). Collaborators in Communication: Publishers, Scholars, and Information Technologists. EDUCAUSE Review, 39(6), 64–76. Retrieved July 14, 2010 from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/CollaboratorsinCommunicationPu/157940

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