IRRODL Volume 14, Number 4

Abstract

thanks to our colleague Dr. Terry Anderson who has steered the IRRODL ship so energetically and astutely for the past 10 years. Terry's leadership has placed IRRODL in the forefront of our field's academic journals and Rory and I will work hard to maintain the level of quality that you have come to expect. And quantity! Volume 14, Issue 4 offers readers 14 research articles and one leadership note from all corners of the globe -a splendid feature that has become a hallmark of this journal.In a fitting opening to such a large and varied issue, the UK's Alan Tait, a familiar voice in our field, presents a framework of ideas drawing in particular on the capability approaches proposed by Amartya Sen in order to analyse theories of development and social justice that are claimed or may be inherent in the mission statements of 12 of the world's leading open universities. Supporting his premise with references to similar large-scope works by colleagues such as Rumble, Daniel, Bowles and Gintis as well as his own previous work, and citing incidents from institutions such as the Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO, he concludes that reviewing institutions' statements of purpose and strategy will help them rise above operational levels that are potentially rhetorical.Wayne Atchley, Gary Wingenbach, and Cindy Akers from Texas tackle another recurring topic in our field, that of comparing completion and performance between traditional and online courses. Recalling Russell's well-known "no significant difference" study (2001), the authors found that there were differences in completion rates among disciplines; however, student characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, classification, major, and experience with online course delivery were not considered in this research, and more study will be necessary to further understand the nature of learning in the many formats available to us today. The critically important issues of online community, empowerment and engagement are also at the heart of Yu-Chang Hsu and Yu-Hui Ching's article on non-programmer adult learners' experience with mobile apps. Hsu and Ching found that students appreciated the rich level of peer support in their virtual learning community and they conclude that their study shows the educational value of mobile app design activities, and the possibility and practicality of teaching/learning mobile app design online.In exploring the application of another current platform, Scott P. Anstadt, ShannonBradley, and Ashley Burnette surveyed users of educationally and health focused SIMS (simulations) to discover what motivates their Second Life (SL) and real life (RL)interactions in several areas, potentially addressing the future role of educating social work students regarding research methodology in online virtual reality interactions.Implications for social work are discussed including engaging clients using incentives for social participation built into the SL milieu.In keeping with Tait's "let's examine our institutional Mann Hyung Hur and Yeonwook Im, als...