Internet Learning Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2014 | Page 3

Internet Learning Volume 3 Number 2 - Fall 2014 Letter from the Editor Dr. Melissa Layne When our editorial staff posted the call for papers in early spring for this special issue, I certainly did not expect the overwhelming number of submissions we received. However, I suppose when you request articles around two highly-regarded annual reports, Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the United States, 2013 (Allen & Seaman, 2014) and the NMC Horizon Report 2014 Higher Education Edition (NMC & EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, 2014), you are bound to receive a positive response! We had a difficult time paring down to the final seven, but believe we have included an exemplary compilation of work from experts in both education and industry. This special issue is “special” for a number of reasons. First, as previously mentioned, it is based upon two reports that are invaluable resources to those involved in the field of online teaching and learning, Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the United States, 2013 (Allen & Seaman, 2014) and the NMC Horizon Report 2014 Higher Education Edition (NMC & EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, 2014). Both reports have core commonalities that lend to their long-held credibility and widespread global attention. These commonalities include: • addressing questions and issues common to higher education; • rigorous data collection and analysis by experts in the field of online teaching and learning; • consistent methodologies that allow for the tracking of the growth and development of online learning and educational technologies; • identifying challenges and trends that ultimately impact online higher education planning and decision-making; and • disseminating results that are widely-cited by educational and industrial researchers for the development of further studies. Secondly, this issue of Internet Learning marks the debut of interactive and device responsive issue versions in addition to the print version. To view these versions, please refer to the Internet Learning website http://www.ipsonet.org/publications/open-access/ internet-learning for instructions on how to download this issue (and future issues) to your desktop and other various mobile devices. This bold move to digital scholarship and publishing demonstrates our commitment to provide our readers with not only an engaging encounter with the written word, it exemplifies our dedication to “practicing what we preach” by keeping current on innovative developments in the evolving field of scholarship and publication. Therefore, I would like to thank Nicole Lea of Sorelle Design, South Africa who has been invaluable and instrumental in the digital transformation of this issue, American Public University System’s Holly Henry Cooper, who designed, laid out, and integrated the transformed journal into Adobe’s InDesign software, the creative 2