Call for Submissions (February 2024) 

Catch the Next, Inc.

For the next issue of The Journal of Ideas and Pedagogy, we invite submissions from our campus partners who want to share their pedagogical knowledge, lived experiences, and build community. As an organization, Catch the Next has steadfastly believed that our community is a treasure trove of knowledge, innovation, and reflective practice. This journal was created as a space to share best practices, innovative teaching strategies, and ideas for supporting the students we serve. As such, we are interested in pieces that consider the following questions:

• What classroom-level reforms has my college enacted in the last 5 years? How have I responded to them?
• What reforms have changed the delivery format of my classes (e.g., combining or condensing course sequences, reducing the number of course offerings, moving content into labs or online modules)?
• What professional development was I provided or did I participate in to adapt to changing policy?
• What has been successful for me in adapting to change? On the flip side, what has not worked?
• Who are my students and how have their needs changed in the last 5 years? How am I responding to those changes?

Pieces that consider other questions are welcome as well.

When possible, we encourage collaborations in the writing process. Faculty members may consult with their Institutional Research and Effectiveness partners to provide anonymized data to provide some deeper context about the effectiveness of a policy. For faculty who are working with a learning community or paired course set-up, we invite both faculty to present their perspectives. We also invite college teams (e.g., departments, college teams involved in implementing the Ascender model, and so forth). 

We also welcome doctoral students and scholars who are interested in research on the community college sector and student success initiatives in Texas as they relate to gateway courses (e.g., developmental education, Freshman Composition, Learning Frameworks, and College Algebra). Mentoring in the Writing Process is Available! For first-time authors, writing for publication can be a daunting experience. This experience is meant to be positive and developmental. Please know that this issue’s editor, Erin Doran, is committed to working with you to craft a piece that is of publishable quality.

Format of Submissions

Essays: Essay submissions should be double-spaced, should follow a Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition) author-date citation guidelines, and should not exceed 40 pages or 10,000 words (with abstract, tables, references, and any other materials). The abstract should not exceed 250 words and should succinctly describe the essay’s main argument and findings.

Book Reviews and Review Essays: The Journal of Ideas and Pedagogy publishes reviews of current fiction, poetry, and non-fiction books, especially those that represent innovations in educational attainment and success; the power of mentorship; the landscape and/or future of higher education; the politics of education; and/or personal or cultural empowerment. For fiction books, we are always interested in books that may be of interest to our faculty partners for use in their classrooms (especially for faculty teaching in the Ascender program). Reviews that discuss one book should be approximately 500-100 words; review essays that discuss several books at once may be longer. Reviews should include the following information in this order:

• Review Title
• Review Author’s Name
• Book Title. Author’s Name. City, State. Press, year.
• ISBN
• Number of pages
• Price in dollars (specify if price is for paperback or hardcover)

Suggestions for recent books that may be of interest in reviewing:

• Gina A. Garcia’s Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Opportunities for colleges and universities
• Felicia Darling’s Teachin’ It! Breakout Moves that Break Down Barriers for Community College Students

Creative Writing: The Journal of Ideas and Pedagogy publishes original literary fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry characterized by interest in language, development of distinctive settings, compelling conflict, and complex, unique characters. Submit one short story, memoir, or poem. Due to limited space, we do not consider longer stories or novellas. The Journal of Ideas and Pedagogy has a separate poetry editor, Mr. Fernando Flores. Poetry submissions should be sent directly to him at Fernando.flores@catchthenext.org.

Interviews: The Journal of Ideas and Pedagogy publishes interviews with writers, researchers, policy makers, and leaders in higher education policy and practice. Please inquire with Erin Doran (erin.doran@catchthenext.org) to propose an interview.

Style and Usage

All submissions should follow Chicago Manual of Style author-date guidelines, as outlined in the 16th edition. CMS author-date format uses a parenthetical in-text citation that includes the author's last name and the year without intervening punctuation. e.g., (Castillo 2003). Entries in the reference list in CMS author-date format begin with the author's (or authors') name(s), followed by the date of publication.

Copyright

The Journal of Ideas and Pedagogy and Catch the Next, Inc. acquire first North American rights to adopted publications; therefore, submissions should be works previously unpublished in North America. A manuscript is considered previously published if another work exists with any/all of the following: the same title, the same opening paragraph, and/or 25 percent or more of the same content.

Multimedia Files

As an online journal, CTN Journal of Ideas and Pedagogy accommodates multimodal composition and submissions can include, for instance, illustrations or other images if the author has been granted permissions for such publication. Similarly, audio files of interviews or poetry readings may be included with such submissions. All multimedia should be submitted as individual files (not embedded in a document) and labeled with identifying information as follows:

• Audio files should be submitted in mp3 or m4a format and labeled in accordance with the type of file submitted. For instance, an interview recording might labeled: rios.interviewaudio
• Image files should be sent in formats that provide the highest quality resolution with maximum compression. CTN Journal of Ideas and Pedagogy reserves the right to adjust the dimensions, file-type, resolution, and compression of image files. In addition to labeling images with identifying information, please also indicate in the body of the email, with which pages, paragraphs, and/or stanzas the images should be coupled, as necessary.
• Video files should be submitted in mp4, m4v, or mov format and provide high quality resolution.

The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2024, or until the issue is filled. Please contact Erin Doran at erin.doran@catchthenext.org with any questions.