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LeARninG
The International
Journal
Volume 14
RETURN - Employability and E-Learning: Start
Working Effectively After Parantal Leave
Andreas Liening, Ewald Mittelstaedt and Claudia Wiepcke
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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RETURN - Employability and E-Learning: Start Working Effectively
After Parantal Leave
Andreas Liening, Universitaet Dortmund, Germany
Ewald Mittelstaedt, Universitaet Dortmund, Germany
Claudia Wiepcke, Universitaet Dortmund, Germany
Abstract: Doing business today means that one encounters new challenges: globalisation, mastery of advancements in in-
formation and communication technology, and adaptation to increasing buyer’s markets. For companies to compete in this
environment, they must manage their knowledge and human capital effectively, which includes on-going on-the-job training
for employee competency and skill mastery. Employees returning after parental leave are a special target group for this
training: they need to quickly regain their employability. However, conventional corporate learning arrangements are often
difficult for this target group, due to time and location restrictions. RETURN was developed as an answer to this problem
- a human resources training program that aims to qualify employees at the end of parental leave to start working more
effectively. Common goals of RETURN are to bring participants’ technical and computer skills up-to-date, obtain necessary
competencies in information and communication technology (ICT), keep participants’ tuned into what is going on in the
workplace and reduce training time requirements on the job, as well as to improve self-confidence, help participants’ balance
work and family responsibilities, and to create a learning culture and a positve attitude towards life-long learning. To test
the extent to which RETURN can prove successful in these areas, an empirical survey (2004 - 2006) was implemented. It
was revealed that participants exhibited a high rate of acceptance and satisfaction with the RETURN program, and that an
average RETURN-course carries its own weight (costs) fivefold in terms of ROI.
Keywords: e-learning, Blended Learning, Employability, ICT, Gender Mainstreaming, Vocational Training, 360-degree
Evaluation, Return on Investment
The Changing Significance of
“Employability” in Germany
INGERMANY,THE labourmarket has recentlyexperienced fundamental changes affected byeconomic, technologic, demographic and social
developments (Liening; Wiepcke 2004: 1) that
lead to modified (more flexible) occupational pat-
terns and the development of a knowledge-based
society. Demographically, Germany will experience
a steady decrease in population size and an ageing
of its work force. At the same time, social values
have also been changing. Older generations (born
before 1965) have traditionally placed a high emphas-
is on occupation, job stability, and high performance.
Younger generations (born after 1965) are placing
a high emphasis on enjoyment of life, sports, leisure
time, educational and cultural activities, and the
compatibility of family life and occupation (Speck
2005: XV and Rump; Eilers 2006: 15).
These changes in priorities are a concern not only
for employees, but also for the German government
agency. If individuals, due to toominor qualifications
and job dissatisfaction, remove themselves from the
presently expected standards on the labour market,
it might lead to unemployment. If there is a lack of
qualified employees, the economic development of
businesses in Germany is influenced in a negative
way. A minor or declining economic cycle has neg-
ative impacts on the financial power of the state and
might endanger the social security systems. On the
basis of these trends, the concept of “employability”
has become increasingly important.
What is “Employability”?
The concept of “employability” refers to the ability
of individuals to provide their labour based on their
professional competence and practical skills as well
as to offer the creation of added-value and their
productive efficiency (Blanke; Roth; Schmid 2000:
9; Heijde; Van Der Heijden 2006: 449-476). It
comprises characteristics that distinguish individuals
with regard to their occupation as suitable or unem-
ployable (Rump; Schmid o.J.: 4; Civelli 1998: 48).
Not only the individuals themselves, but also the
businesses and the government need to be concerned
with “employability”.While individuals are expected
to build their own education and knowledge, the
government and business sectors would also benefit
from the establishment of the general framework for
this expansion (Krafft; Wiepcke 2005).
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEARNING,
VOLUME 14, 2007
http://www.Learning-Journal.com, ISSN 1447-9494
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The Specific Function of Individuals
One question that arises at this point is: Under which
conditions are employees ‘employable’? The stand-
ard answer is that employees are employable if they
possess abilities, skills and competencies that are
needed by the employer (business). This means pro-
fessional competence, acquired primarily during
vocational training, but it also includes interpersonal
and organizational skills, called ‘key qualifications’
(see Illustration 1 for a display of competencies in-
fluencing employability).
Illustration 1: “Employability” of Individual Subjects (Liening, Mittelstädt, Wiepcke 2006: 128)
But how can the subjects achieve “employability”?
Whereas employees get their professional compet-
ence during the occupational training, key qualifica-
tions are developed through learning processes,
which take place lifelong and activate the emotion
and motivation (Heyse, Erpenbeck 2004: XX). Ac-
cordingly, individuals are expected to set goals for
their professional future and to set them into action.
They have to become “entrepreneurs for themselves”
by recognizing the current needs on the market and
by aligning their way of proceeding. This requires
that the individual can recognize his or her own needs
while also identifying their demand on the market
(Blancke, Roth, Schmid 2000: 9). While doing so
the personal “journey through life” should not be
lost track of.
The Role of Businesses
“Employability” is, however, not only restricted to
individual subjects. If businesses do not offer appro-
priate basic conditions, employees have almost no
chance to develop themselves further. In turn, busi-
nesses gain via their employees´ “employability” in
competitiveness. On the one hand due to the in-
creased abilities to react and innovate, on the other
hand in particular due to an increased flexibility with
regard to the employment (Rump, Eilers 2006: 24).
The requirements at an “employability-strategy”
on the part of the business affect the business culture
in particular, as an adaptation of thinking- and action
patterns has to take place. The maintenance of the
employees´ “employability” in particular requires
an alteration of the classical qualification at the place
of work. Further vocational trainingmeasures should
be diversed with the help of an infrastructure based
on information technology, for example computer
assisted learning platforms for the implementation
of blended learning scenarios (Zils 2005: 155 und
Bruch, Sauter: 191). The employees´ loyalty is not
acquired now due to job security, but instead due to
diverse measures, which preserve the “employabil-
ity”.
European Emergence of “Employability”
Several times “employability” was recommended
by the European Commission as an instrument of
prime importance for the support of the labour-mar-
ket (European Commission 2002). In order to pre-
serve Europe as a competitive location of industry
and commerce, lifelong learning and, in particular,
advanced vocational training are supposed to have
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEARNING, VOLUME 14
a high significance within the scope of the European
“employability-strategy” (Weinert 2001: 192). Ac-
cording to a survey carried out by Eurostat (2004),
nevertheless only 6% of all employees (aged 25-64)
in Germany (in Great Britain 21.3 %) participated
in advanced vocational training in the year 2003.
Highly trained employees participated in qualifica-
tion/training measures six times more in comparison
to less trained employees. It can be stated that the
concept to maintain the “employability” has not yet
arrived in the majority of German businesses.
Implementing “Employability” with the
help of Blended Learning
The analysis of “employability” shows that as a
consequence of the increase in employment oppor-
tunities, complexity rises, too. Now, business educa-
tion is confronted with the challenge of training indi-
viduals not just in technical skills, but also in key
interpersonal competencies. Blended learning, which
offers a great variety of learning media, “learning
rooms” and learning methods, can make a central
contribution to the didactical application of learning
scenarios, which comprise specific professional - as
well as interdisciplinary components.
Concerning, for example, the choice of media, one
can differentiate between offline- and online media.
Offline media are media that support learning pro-
cesses without a connection to the internet, such as,
for example, CD-ROM,DVD, print media, video/TV
etc. Online media, by contrast, focus on internet
based networking, as, for example iPods, PDAs, PCs,
notebooks, mobile phones, e-whiteboards. Online
media allow the use of podcasting, wikis, e-mails,
newsgroups, chats, application sharing, etc.
Blended learning (between on-and off-line applic-
ations) allows for the added benefit of alternating
between learning sessions where attendance can be
made obligatory, and decentralised learning scenari-
os. Thus, trainees can learn either individually or in
groups, on site or online/off-line at different places.
This spatial and temporal flexibility is a very import-
ant characteristic of blended learning. On a method-
ical level, the differentiation between asynchronous
and synchronous communication plays a decisive
role. Thus, an asynchronous communication between
learner and learner can be established via one-to-one,
one-to-many-e-mails or via discussion forums. A
synchronous communication between learners can
be carried out with the help of chatrooms, audio-
/videoconferencing, whiteboard (application sharing).
Obviously, the teacher-learner or rather coach-learner
communication can be realised asynchronously or
synchronously, too (Liening 2004: 1-63).
As to the variety of learning scenarios, one must,
however, be careful about sliding into arbitrariness.
One may safely say that in the end it may not be a
high degree of multimedia that makes the learning
process a success, but rather the quality and epistem-
ological orientation of that program (see Liening
1992; Liening 1999). In this context it is helpful to
understand the German concept of ‘Bildung’, which
must not be confused with the English expression
“education” or the French expression “formation”.
“Bildung” is closely connected to the idea of the
freedom of the individual and the dignity of the hu-
man being, which are inalienable human rights and
may, therefore, not be disregarded. Within the
concept of “Bildung” people can only be considered
‘educated’, if they are able to act in a self-determined
manner and take responsibility for the knowledge
they acquire. In this way, education isn’t about
memorizing facts and merely applying knowledge
that has been passed down. Rather, education only
works if the learner has studied a subject to such a
degree that he/she understands the knowledge and
develops a rationally founded, critical and construct-
ive attitude towards it. Especially the behaviouristic
approaches by Skinner andWatson are not appropri-
ate for this education process, as they tend to condi-
tion and to socialise learners, instead of giving them
the chance to become self-determined, critically-
constructive and responsible employees, in order to
strengthen the “employability” of the individual
person (Liening 1992; Liening 1999).
RETURN – Implementing a Human
Resource Development measure for
Employees during Parental Leave
The following section of this paper describes the
approach to an application for human resource devel-
opment, using a blended-level approach to learning.
This trainingwas designed for the re-entry of employ-
ees after parental leave and was put into effect within
the scope of an “employability-strategy” of a com-
mercial bank located in Germanywith approximately
1,200 employees, called Sparkasse Herford.
The financial service sector faces a unique prob-
lem: On the one hand, the financial service sector is
characterised by an increase in productivity due to
the intensified application of ICT. On the other hand,
the market for financial services changed to an ex-
treme buyers´ market with a high level of transpar-
ency. The outcome of this is a competitive environ-
ment that makes high demands on employability. In
comparison to the occupational situation of employ-
ees three, five or ten years ago, nowadays the main
occupation is in sales-oriented functions, with a high
emphasis on techonolgy-related skills. A particular
subgroup with regard to the adjustment qualification
within the necessary personnel modification consti-
tute are the employees who return after parental
ANDREAS LIENING, EWALD MITTELSTAEDT, CLAUDIA WIEPCKE
leave. In Germany parental leave can be up to three
years per child. By reason of the necessity for quali-
fication of this target group, options for organisation-
al change arise, which can be used for the human
resource transfer to customer-oriented operational
areas.
Goals
The qualification measure RETURN deals with the
long-term planning of the employees´ re-entry after
parental leave. The operative objectives of the Spar-
kasse are:
• to ease the compatibility of family and occupa-
tion for the returned employees,
• to enable the professional and social acclimatisa-
tion to changed working conditions,
• to reduce the period of vocational adjustment
“on the job”,
• to bring about the structuring of necessary applic-
ations for business policy reasons and
• to obtain the securing of skilled employees
Implementation
To achieve best possible quality, planning, structur-
ing/ realisation and assessment of the qualification
measure were incorporated into the seven levels of
the 360-degree evaluation according to Wiepcke
(2006). The first and second level comprise the re-
cording of the target group and the basic conditions,
the third level aims at the determination of the di-
dactical design. In order to obtain a holistic view
with regard to the evaluation, in the first three levels
internal and external experts as well as the persons
concerned were interrogated. The internal experts
included representatives of the staff council, persons
in charge from the human resource development and
the equal opportunity commissioner of Sparkasse
Herford. The external expert council consisted of
Dr. Andreas Liening, professor of Universitaet
Dortmund and his team, as well as Dr. Dietmar
Krafft, professor of Universitaet Muenster. The rel-
evant people for an education measure were not only
the (potential) participating persons, but also their
colleagues as well as the respective executive. Ana-
logical to the all around examination of a person with
the help of the 360-degree feedback (Carson 2006:
395). As a control measure, people who returned to
the workplace without RETURN training were inter-
viewed. The socio-economic status of control group
participants was recorded from different points of
view, including qualitative interviews with six per-
sons, as well as one respective colleague and one
respective executive. Altogether, 18 interviews took
place. All control group participants have returned
to the workplace for at least six months, were em-
ployed in the sales division, and had been on leave
for two to five years (median 3.0 years).
The interviews showed the following picture of
the occupational re-entry:
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEARNING, VOLUME 14
Table 1: Statements of Participants being Affected by the re-entry
fellow employeesexecutivesreturned personnel
Assistance is only needed sparsely
(vocational adjustment less time-
consuming than e.g. for apprentices)
Acknowledgement of the high dedic-
ation
Enjoys the re-entry, especially in the
fact that one can obtain acceptance
outside of the family
Appear to be skilful and confident
in the handling of customers
Marketing orientation/ need recogni-
tion inadequately developed
Fear of the changed requirements,
especially concerning the pressure
to sell
After initial fear of contact, willing-
ness to learn about computer system
(and ability to learn)
Instruction in computer system at the
moment relatively long
No participation in computer
courses before
Take over rather routine jobs and
avoid consultation-intensive tasks
Background knowledge not up-to-
date, insecurities in selective sales
Difficulties concerning products of
connected companies
approach and products of connected
companies
Under the prevailing circumstances
relatively flexible concerning the
working hours
Sensitive domestic situationEncouragement of the family lim-
itedly available
Integrate themselves quickly into the
team
Support team work, but are rather
shy concerning conflicts and have
only few new ideas
Like working in a team
Only contact to other returning per-
sons by chance
The analysis of the separate statements and a com-
parison from different points of view resulted in a
need for adaptation in the following areas:
• (re-) establish computer literacy
• refresh knowledge of strategy/ competitive envir-
onment/ branch office- and consulting service
concepts
• enlarge abilities in teamwork and communication
• support work/ life balance (returning women
have to incorporate their environment, i.e. family/
colleagues more strongly)
• work for a stronger sales orientation/ update
knowledge of products, in particular products of
linked businesses
• reduce fears/ facilitate re-entry/ establish connex-
ions with other returning women
Due to the general conditions (e.g. with regard to
the familiar situation only limited opportunity to
participate in seminars, which require presence) and
in taking the above mentioned competence defini-
tions into account, the following blended learning
mix was composed:
• offline learning instruments (CD-ROM) for the
learning by oneself phases, which combine
problem-oriented case study work with compre-
hensive text presentations, set to toned slide
presentations, videos, interactive exercises and
educational games
• attended classes at the beginning and end of
every learning module in order to get to know
other people/ to establish networks and for activ-
ation/ motivation
• group works on the basis of problem-oriented
case studies for consolidation and for the transfer
of specialised knowledge worked out before
• suitable mentoring of target group with the help
of tele-tutoring
• use of an electronic learning platform with
variegated communication- and administration
functions (e.g. discussion forum, chat, test etc.)
ANDREAS LIENING, EWALD MITTELSTAEDT, CLAUDIA WIEPCKE
Table 2: Modules – Procedure and Contents
Computer ApplicationProcedure/ContentsModule/Subject Matters
Kick-off workshop: activation and introduction
basesInstrumenst to learn 01 – “Sparkasse
“in competition case study” quality
wins “group work” teaser offers”
01 Well-informed
strategy/organisation of the “Spar-
kasse”
operation system
e-mail/ internet
factor of success: quality text processing
individual personnel development
interim workshop: reflection and transition
learning platformInstrument to learn 02 – “family and
occupation in balance “ case study”
02 Well-organised
compatibility of family/occupation Groupware
teamwork “group work” project
planning”
time management
communication/behaviour in conflict
situations
interim workshop: reflection and transition
learning platformInstrument to learn 03 – “all-around
financial advice “ case study” success-
ful marketing in an integral way”
03 Good in Sales
successful constitution of customer
contacts
sales supportive applications
integral finance concepts
completion workshop
The performance measurement within the scope of
management control in education serves for the re-
cordation of utility and costs of the further education
measure and for the prove of its usefulness. Layers
four to seven of the 360-degree evaluation according
to Wiepcke are designed to measure the acceptance
(4th), the learning success (5th) and the achievement
of objectives (6th) as well as to estimate the effects
on the business success (Wiepcke 2006).
About 4th to 6th Layer
In the case under consideration the aspects satisfac-
tion, learning success and the successful transfer of
knowledge were taken up and analysed in a multi-
perspective way. At first the participants´ felt satis-
faction and the learning success were surveyed. The
achievement of a minimum of satisfaction and
learning success is an essential requirement for the
overall success of the measurement. The felt satisfac-
tion was analysed with the help of quantitative
questionnaires, the learning success was investigated
by the assessment of the solutions of the case studies.
Apart from that the RETURN participants and their
executives were interviewed in an ex post evaluation
(six months after re-entry) concerning the transfer
of subject matter into the context of the occupation
and concerning the felt “employability” in different
phases of the re-entry. In a second step the develop-
ment of the RETURN participants´ “employability”
was contrasted with a comparison group. The com-
parison group consisted of persons, who had returned
before and had not taken part in the RETURN
measure. It has to be pointed out that the interviews
of this comparison group and their executives were
carried out six months after their re-entry, but the
data collection already took place within the scope
of the ex ante evaluation in the year 2004. Although
the significance of the results should not be over-
emphasised due to the explorative character, the
chosen indicators establish resilient operationalisa-
tion characteristics. The reliability fulfils the quality
factors of qualitative social research.
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEARNING, VOLUME 14
Table 3: Performance Measurement RETURN
Comparison groupRETURN-participantsPartial constructs of the performancemeasurement
83.1 %Satisfaction with RETURN
per self-evalutation of the participants at the end
of the measure
87.6 %Learning success RETURN
assessment of solutions of case studies per tele-tu-
toring during the measure
53.8 %75.7 %Satisfaction with work-life-balance
per self-evaluation of the participants six months
after re-entry
The percentages of the partial constructs shown in
table 3 result from an average (arithmetic average)
of the individual evaluations, which are listed as a
mark equivalent in percentage values (e.g. a superior
grade – A = 97 %). Generally, as satisfaction level
a heuristic value of 80 % as a minimal value should
be achieved. Consequently, the satisfaction and the
learning success of the RETURN participants can
be regarded as completely satisfied. The comparison
of measured values of RETURN participants and the
comparison group shows, with regard to the work-
life-balance, a significant increase in the satisfaction
(+ 21.1 percentage points).
But how does this result have an impact on the
“employability” and the business success?
About 7th Layer
One might tend to deduce that from the increased
competence and satisfaction of the RETURN-parti-
cipants results an increased performance. Often, the
evaluations of further vocational trainings remain at
such a vague judgement, but thus a verification of
the utility is highly speculative.
Illustration 3: Development of “Employability” with the help of RETURN
It is a valid method of management control to detect
benefits of “employability” gains and to rate it in
proportion to the connected costs, which means that
the return on investment (ROI) is determined. Illus-
tration 3 illustrates the development of the “employ-
ability” of RETURNparticipants and the comparison
group within the first six months after their re-entry.
As a reference (=100 %) the “employability” of an
incorporated female employee with similar areas of
responsibility and the same contractual relationship
was chosen. The “employability” can also be ex-
pressed in effective working hours. As the weekly
hours of work of the RETURN- as well as of the
non-RETURN-participants amount to 20 working
hours, it means that a RETURN-participant, e.g.
within the first week after the re-entry, effectively
worked 13.8 hours (20 h x 69 %) of her 20 working
hours, whereas a non-RETURN-participant effect-
ively worked about 8.2 hours (20 h x 41 %). The
weekly differences concerning the effective working
time can be added to a total of about 100 hours of
work within the first six months per returned woman.
In addition, it has to be added that the RETURN-
participants do not perform the workload of the fur-
ANDREAS LIENING, EWALD MITTELSTAEDT, CLAUDIA WIEPCKE
ther training (the RETURN-course designed for 120
learning hours) during the working time but during
their leisure time. The outcome of this is a total util-
ity, resulting from the further training measure, of
220 working hours, as the RETURN-participants are
effectively available to a greater extend. If these
working hours are multiplied by the average hourly
wage rate and are contrasted with the costs of the
education measure, it adds up to a ROI of about 5:1,
i.e. 500 % (RETURN-course of 10 participants).
Conclusion
In the course of the conclusion of an empirical study
it is important to question critically, to what extend
validity can be taken for granted and if, possibly, the
results of the study are distorted by the study itself.
With regard to the Hawthorne effect, a phenomenon
of group based observational studies (Schuler 2005:
76f.), it certainly can be detected that a change of
the persons´ natural behaviour cannot be eliminated.
In the business studies, a discussion about the
Hawthorne effect leads to the opinion that the human
job performance is not only shaped by the objective
working conditions, but also by social factors
(Thommen 2002: 35). Therefore it is almost desirable
to cause this effect by the implementation of person-
nel development measures for returning persons and
even to intensify this by accompanying evaluation.
The RETURN-measure clarifies impressively the
effectiveness of the “employability” approach for
individuals and businesses as well as the efficiency
of arrangements for the implementation of the ap-
proach based on blended learning. “Employability”
as a basis for personnel development strategies can
result in an increase of the business success, but it
also produces a reciprocal claim and a new respons-
ibility. For businesses, “employability” implies, to
be increasingly responsible for the employees` bio-
graphies. This responsibility is not only expressed,
concerning the parental leave, in the promise to
provide a job after the parental leave, but also in the
systematic planning and structured implementation
of the re-entry. In contrast, employees are responsible
for a constant further qualification. They have to be
prepared to educate themselves further during the
working hours as well as during their leisure time
and respectively at the end of their parental leave.
Due to the recourse to employees´ leisure time, new
goal conflicts arise, as the majority of people attach
a great importance to private life. Very often it is
impossible to reconcile the care of the family in
particular with sessions, where attendance is obligat-
ory in seminars. Pure learning by oneself again leads
to isolation andminor learning success. The diversity
of occupational and private moral concepts as well
as the fulfilment of the requirements flexibility and
globality require innovative further education con-
cepts. An answer to this provides the blended learn-
ingmodel, which supports “employability-strategies”
with its inherent variety and is able to “pave the way”
for an improved work-life-balance.
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About the Authors
Prof.Dr. Andreas Liening
Dr. Andreas Liening, professor and head of the chair of business adminstration and economic education at
Universitaet Dortmund, has had 20 years of experience in a range of research, lecturing and administrative po-
sitions in business management, economics, mathematics and ICT for learning. His doctoral studies were in
the area of intelligent tutorial systems, his habilitation treatise about complex systems between order and chaos.
He has been involved in some major research projects in recent years, e.g. supported by the European Commis-
sion. In 2006 he won the initiative award of the German Chamber of Commerce for his entrepreneurship edu-
cation project “Junior Business School”. Dr. Liening publishes constantly in refereed journals. Currently he
holds a significant leadership position as Sub-Dean for the department of business administration and economics
at Universitaet Dortmund.
Ewald Mittelstaedt
Ewald Mittelstaedt, Master of Science in Business Management, is a research fellow in business education at
Universitaet Dortmund. Ewald currently lectures undergraduate and postgraduate students in the areas of applied
business education and business gaming with focus on computer-based learning. His research interests lie in
the areas of Educational Management, E-Learning and Self-Organization.
Dr. Claudia Wiepcke
Dr. Claudia Wiepcke is a research fellow in business education at Universitaet Dortmund. Her dissertation
thesis was about ICT’s and their evaluation in further education with focus on gender mainstreaming. For the
last three 3 years she has taught in the business teacher education program. Her lectures address case writing,
cultural diversity and business German as a foreign language. In recent empirical studies Claudia investigates
thoroughly diagnostics and development of business competences with emphasis on diversity management ap-
proaches.
ANDREAS LIENING, EWALD MITTELSTAEDT, CLAUDIA WIEPCKE

THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEARNING 
 
 
EDITORS 
Mary Kalantzis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. 
Bill Cope, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. 
 
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD 
Michael Apple, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. 
David Barton, Lancaster University, UK. 
Mario Bello, University of Science, Technology and Environment, Cuba. 
Robert Devillar, Kennesaw State University, USA. 
Manuela du Bois-Reymond, Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands. 
Ruth Finnegan, Open University, UK. 
James Paul Gee, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. 
Kris Gutierrez, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. 
Roz Ivanic, Lancaster University, UK. 
Paul James, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. 
Carey Jewitt, Institute of Education, University of London, UK. 
Andeas Kazamias, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA 
Peter Kell, University of Wollongong, Australia. 
Michele Knobel, Montclair State University, New Jersey, USA. 
Gunther Kress, Institute of Education, University of London. 
Colin Lankshear, James Cook University, Australia. 
Daniel Madrid Fernandez, University of Granada, Spain. 
Sarah Michaels, Clark University, Massachusetts, USA. 
Denise Newfield, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. 
Ernest O’Neil, Ministry of Education, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 
José-Luis Ortega, University of Granada, Spain. 
Francisco Fernandez Palomares, University of Granada, Spain. 
Ambigapathy Pandian, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. 
Miguel A. Pereyra, University of Granada, Spain. 
Scott Poynting, University of Western Sydney, Australia. 
Angela Samuels, Montego Bay Community College, Montego Bay, Jamaica. 
Juana M. Sancho Gil, University of Barcelona, Spain. 
Michel Singh, University of Western Sydney, Australia. 
Richard Sohmer, Clark University, Massachusetts, USA. 
Pippa Stein, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. 
Brian Street, King's College, University of London, UK. 
Giorgos Tsiakalos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. 
Gella Varnava-Skoura, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. 
Cecile Walden, Sam Sharpe Teachers College, Montego Bay, Jamaica. 
Nicola Yelland, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. 
Wang Yingjie, School of Education, Beijing Normal University, China. 
Zhou Zuoyu, School of Education, Beijing Normal University, China. 
 
 
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