JVTE v12n2 - Notes From the Editor


Volume 12, Number 2
Spring 1996

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR

The establishment of The Journal of Vocational and Technical Education in 1984 was a watershed event in the history of Omicron Tau Theta. Since serving as the first Chair of the Editorial Board in 1984-85 and as the second Journal Editor in 1986-87, I have observed with great interest as JVTE has grown from a rough idea to a thriving and influential publication as one of the premier journals in the field of vocational and technical education in the United States. To come back into the role of Editor after a decade is a particular pleasure and at the same time a real challenge for me. Our vision for JVTE in 1983 when the idea was first proposed to the OTT National Council, was to develop a rigorous, refereed journal that made possible the publication of thoughtful articles that might or might not be "data-based" in the mode of the classic research journal. We envisioned it as a forum that would allow for the kinds of reasoned discussion that generally could not be found elsewhere in the vocational and technical education literature in this country. We have attained that goal thanks to the efforts of literally hundreds of authors, reviewers, Editorial Board members, and of a much smaller number of Editorial Board Chairs, Editors, and Publishers over the past 12 years. In fact, several of the articles in this issue are just such pieces of work.

We stand now at the beginning of still another watershed event in the history of Omicron Tau Theta and of the Journal. The fall, 1995 issue (12-1) is currently online and can be accessed at the following URL (case sensitive):

Please note carefully the changes in the guidelines for authors in this issue -- changes designed to help move the Journal into its "cyber-future."

The current issue (12-2) was available online even before the copy was sent to the printer. The fall 1996 issue will likely contain at least one article that was submitted, reviewed, revised, re-submitted, re-reviewed, and accepted with no paper ever having exchanged hands. My goal is that electronic submission and review will be the norm rather than the exception by the time the next Editor assumes responsibility for JVTE in December, 1997 and that more readers will have access to the electronic version, e-JVTE as I like to call it, through the Internet than have ever had access to our publication in paper form. I am firmly convinced that the development of e-JVTE will give OTT the same kind of visibility and boost in prestige that resulted from the original development of the printed version of the Journal. I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to be involved in this exciting project.

In this issue:

  1. The Holton and Trott article makes a convincing case for a closer interface between vocational educators and human resource development professionals.
  2. Roth's paper describes the unique approaches to tech prep that must be used in rural schools, to effectively serve the needs of that very large segment of our student population.
  3. The Rolling and Burnett paper examines perceptions held by principals in Louisiana regarding non-traditional gender teachers in vocational education.
  4. Catri and Barrick report a study on the effectiveness of marketing efforts among vocational education planning district superintendents in Ohio.
  5. Leach profiles the characteristics of exemplary trainers in business and industry settings.