Proposals Submission Deadline: May 15, 2010

Introduction
Web 2.0 based technologies have been changing the ways we communicate with other people, how we acquire and assimilate information as well as how we produce knowledge. This networked world creates a sense of "always being in touch or reachable" for "sharing, remixing and reusing information". Users, both organizations and individuals, can now create their own communities, construct content together and enable formal or informal learning collaboratively.

As a result, this mixed economy of ‘official' open content from organisations and open content coming from learning communities through Web 2.0 plays an important role in widening participation in Higher Education.  Understanding the creation of these interactive experiences will be essential for producing significant Open Educational Resources (OERs) and helping learners become more active and able to manage their learning by themselves.

In order to obtain all the benefits that these "open and user-generated content, resources and tools" promise, this book investigates how OERs can be deployed successfully to enrich the collaborative formal and informal learning experience. Our aim is to offer a solid theoretical foundation and precise guidelines on how to produce and use OERs to ensure positive outcomes in terms of "user-generated knowledge".

Objectives of the book

• Assess the meaning and examine the impact of OER and Web 2.0 on collaborative learning;

• Deepen understanding about the diverse range of Web 2.0 tools and practices for collaborative learning and collaborative development of OER;
  
• Foster the exchange of information and good practice in collaborative learning 2.0 techniques, with frameworks and case studies;
  
• Raise the level of awareness of the challenges and opportunities that open content, new social tools and new social media afford for collaborative learning;
  
• Explore visions and scenarios for the future development and deployment of collaborative learning through open educational resources generated by users, both organizations and individuals.

Target Audience
The target audience of this book is the wider educational community across all sectors, undergraduates and postgraduates, researchers, teaching practitioners, international policy makers, educational technologists and individuals who are interested in how Web 2.0, social media and emerging technologies and OER will impact on formal education and the social implications that surround collaborative online learning and virtual communities.

Recomended Topics
- Conceptual frameworks, theoretical models, empirical evidence and approaches to understanding collaborative online learning on the web2.0;
- Relations between communities, networks, groups and individual learning;
- Collaborative online learning for formal and informal education;
- Collaborative learning using different tools: blog, wiki, facebook, twitter;
- Collaborative Online Learning Strategies on the web2.0: Guidelines and successful experiences; 
- Personalisation interfaces and Personal Learning Environments for collaborative online learning;
- Web 2.0 - Open Educational Environments, Resources and tools
- Social media, emerging community practices and uses of OER in Higher Education;
- New technologies, social software and social media for collaborative learning and production of OER;
- Widening Participation through OER in Higher Education; 
- The importance of OERs and Web 2.0 tools for Lifelong Learning and Continuing Professional Development;
- Identity, trust and authenticity in user-generated collaborative content and OER production;
- Digital literacies and accessibility in relation to the uses of OERs and collaborative online learning;
- Reusing and Remixing OER for collaborative learning; 
- OER - designing, creating, adapting  and personalizing;
- Conditions for successful integration of Web 2.0 tools and OER in the curricula; 
- Designing Virtual Learning Environments with OER and web2.0 tools; 
- Barriers and possible solutions for collaborative learning with OER and web2.0 tools; 
- Assessment with  OER and web2.0 tools;
- Emergent mediums for Collaborative Online Learning 2.0: Online Game-Based Learning, Virtual worlds, Smart mobs.

Publisher
This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group Reference), and "Medical Information Science Reference", and "IGI Publishing" imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2011.

Important Dates
Proposal Submission Deadline: May 15, 2010
Full chapter Submission: September 15, 2010
Review Results to Authors: November 30, 2010
Revised Chapter Submission: January 15, 2011
Final Deadline: February 15, 2011

Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners interested in submitting chapters are invited to submit on or before May 15, 2010, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters ( 7,000 - 10,000 words) are expected to be submitted to (oerbook@gmail.com) by September 15, 2010. All submitted chapters should be in MS-Word or Open Office format and will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project. Additional information regarding the call for chapters can be found at (http://books.kmi.open.ac.uk/cl2oer/)

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) to:
Dr. Alexandra Okada & MS Teresa Connolly
Knowledge Media Institute - The Open University UK
Email:  (oerbook@gmail.com)