Workshops will also be based upon papers but rather than making a presentation, the author(s) will briefly summarise the issue(s) and then invited discussion among the delegates attending this parallel session. The prime aim of the workshop is to achieve a sharing of ideas and expertise. Workshops will be allocated one-hour timeslots in the Forum’s parallel sessions and the papers they are based upon will be published in the Forum Proceedings. Papers in support of workshops should follow the same guidelines for case studies.

Your paper should be sent in both hard copy and electronic form to:

Forum Secretariat
Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open learning
1285 West Broadway, Suite 600
Vancouver, BC V6H 3X8
Canada

Your paper must be submitted as A4 (210cm x 297cm) or 8-1/2" x 11" hard copy and on 3-1/2" disk or by e-mail attachment (to: forum@col.org) in Rich Text Format ("RTF") or Word for Windows (or Windows ’95).

You should clearly indicate the make/model of computer; name/version number of the word-processing software; and the operating system you have used by labelling the disk or including this information in the e-mail.

Do not send us the only disk version you have – keep a back-up copy for yourself.

Your typescript

The typescript should be clear and double-spaced and your layout should be simple. Please only use two levels of headings in addition to a title and sub-title. Times New Roman, 10 pt., is the preferred font.

Do not justify the right margins (left justification only) and do not centre the headings.

Cover page

The cover page should give the paper’s title, the title/name/position, institution, country and e-mail address of each author, and the abstract of not more than 200 words.

The cover page should also indicate whether the paper is to be presented under case studies or under workshops.

Paper length

The paper should not exceed 3000 words.

Typefaces for headings and text

The paper’s main title on the cover page and the first page of the paper should be in Times or Times New Roman 12 pt. bold capitals.

Headings and subheadings within the paper should be Times or Times New Roman 10 pt., upper and lower case (capitalise only the first word). Headings should be bold. Sub-headings should be underlined, plain text.

The text should be in Times or Times New Roman 10 pt plain text.

Language

Do not use gender-specific language. E.g., avoid the use of ‘he’ when ‘he’ and/or ‘she’ applies, use "bus-driver" not "busman." A reference sheet is available to assist in the preparation of neutral-language alternatives. Please also use British spelling conventions wherever possible.

Tables, figures and diagrams

Tables, figures and diagrams should be placed where they are to appear in the text and created using the Word table/diagram format.

Please prepare tables with a minimum of horizontal rules and without any vertical rules. Use paragraph formatting and the "table" utility to set out your tables, or use single, specified TABs. Do not use the space bar to align the columns.

Permissions

You must obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations, tables, figures, maps, and diagrams taken from other works and provide copies of clearance documentation.

Footnotes

Footnotes should not be used.

Quotations

Double quotation marks should be used for quotations of less than thirty words.

Longer quotes should be indented without quotation marks.

Only use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes.

All quotations should cite the author’s surname, year of publication, and page reference, e.g. (Koul, 1995:25).

Citations in the text

Citations in the text should give the author’s family name and the date in brackets, e.g., Koul (1995).

Where there are more than three authors, the abbreviation ‘et al’ may be used, e.g., Cunningham et al, (1998).

Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year, list them as 1995a, 1995b, etc.

References

References should be given in alphabetical order, using the Harvard Reference System, at the end of the paper.

They should be in the order: author’s family name, initial(s), year of publication, title, place of publication, and publisher, e.g.

Moran, L. and Mugridge, I. (eds.) (1993) Collaboration in Distance Education: International Case Studies, London & New York: Routledge.

Naidu, S. (1997) ‘Collaborative reflective practice: An instructional design architecture for the Internet’,

Distance Education, 18, 2: 257 – 283.

Perraton, H. (1995) ‘A practical agenda for theorists of distance education’, in F. Lockwood (ed.) Open and Distance Learning Today, London: Routledge.

Use italics for book and journal titles, with the main words having capitals. Do not use underlining or bold for such titles.

Your poster should not be conceived or presented as a typed paper. It should be on a large sheet of card (up to a maximum size of 0.91 metres [3 feet] wide and 1.22 metres [4 feet] high) and should have a large title capable of being read at a distance. It should be designed to be logical, self-explanatory and attractive to the viewer. It should include a brief abstract and introduction, the aims of the study/programme, the results and the discussion points. It should be set out as a series of short bullet statements rather than as extended text. The text should be large enough to read at a distance and graphics, graphs, charts and photographs will help you get your message across.

You may prepare your poster and bring it with you for display at the Forum. You will be advised on where to take the poster for the Forum staff to display it for you.

It is hoped that all sectors will be represented in this display and that it will show what can be achieved in print and with basic technology as well as applications of the new communications and information technology.

Please bring promotional and educational material with you for inclusion in this display. It can be in the form of:

• Print
• Audio-visual
• Computer or multimedia
• On-line delivery.

You may wish to make yourself available at appointed times to discuss this material.

The Forum organisers will supply the stands and hardware necessary to display your material and will ensure its security by having Forum staff in attendance at all times. In the case on on-line programmes, since it may not always be technically or financially possible to provide real-time access to the Internet and the Web, you may prefer to bring disk-based simulations as backup.