Since 2016, the Online Learning Journal (OLJ), the official journal of the OLC has worked with the American Educational Research Association (AERA), an international society that “strives to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good” (About AERA). AERA members consist of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who belong to one or more of the 12 divisions and more than 150 special interest groups (SIGs). They come together annually to share educational research results and discuss implications for practice. The Online Teaching and Learning (OTL) SIG is a group of over 200 members who discuss and disseminate challenges and possibilities relating to online teaching and learning. SIG OTL and the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) have maintained a long-standing collaboration to advance online, blended, and digital learning theory and practice. The AERA annual meeting in 2024 was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The theme of the meeting was “Dismantling Racial Injustice and Constructing Educational Possibilities: A Call to Action.”
For the past nine years, the Online Learning Journal (OLJ), has released a special issue to extend opportunities for SIG OTL members to contribute their expertise in online education research. This year’s special issue features eight articles. The first two papers focus pointedly on equity, and the others focus on engagement broadly speaking.
In addition to the special section in this fourth and final quarterly volume of 2024, this issue also contains 10 articles from our regular submission process. These articles include a wide range of related themes such as accessibility, social presence, student engagement, achievement, and more.
We would like to thank the special issue editors Drs. Patrick Lowenthal of Boise State University, Robert Ford of the University of Florida and Mary Rice of the University of New Mexico for their exceptional work on the special issue.
