A strong and emerging topic in the contemporary media landscape is the question about what happens in online teaching when students turn their cameras off. In the academic discourse about this phenomenon, various terms are used: “Camera off”, “Blank screens”, “Black screen”. Our desire is to publish a special issue of Seminar.net in which we invite scholars to publish results of their academic achievements in this area.

The special issue invites contributions that address how students and teachers interact in various online teaching contexts today. A rich field of experiences has developed during the pandemic. In the economic backlash that follows during the recovery from the pandemic – but also due to the crisis caused by the Russian war against Ukraine, and environmental concerns, it is likely that hybrid and online teaching will remain as a “normal” context for teaching in higher education. A commonly addressed problem has been the assumption by teachers that students will remain visible for teachers during teaching, but students refuse or half-heartedly comply with teachers’ urge for audiovisual responses to their teaching. The research on this phenomenon is in its early stages and we would like to contribute to academic knowledge on the topic. The contributions to the special issue should aim at building knowledge about how teaching and studying with media has altered the “teaching game”. Lecturing by means of software like ZOOM and Teams, induces new genres like “flipped classroom”, and opens up new resources such as documentaries, triggers, gaming and podcasts.

We therefore welcome critical and well-founded presentations of how this phenomenon is being applied to various contexts, the methods and expressions used and what directions future developments might go.

Seminar.net is a peer reviewed academic open access e-journal in the area of media, technology and lifelong learning. The journal has readers from around the globe, with the largest groups residing in the US, India and various European countries. In this academic area, Seminar.net appears to be the only publication that welcomes and supports presentation of visual material, videos, animations and genres that emerge from expressions in the New Media in symbiosis with written articles. Seminar.net aims at expanding the format of how academics may express their insights, wisdom and scientific results. We encourage presentations including videos as examples, as demonstrations and expositions. We will insist on inclusion of some traditional academic elements, such as abstract and references, but look forward to contributions that use conventional text in less linear fashions than journals usually allow.

Important dates:

April 1, 2023: final date for sending proposals to editor

July 1, 2023:      final date for sending contributions to the editor

September 30, 2023:      publication

 

Yngve Nordkvelle

Editor