As I did last year at this time, I gathered the following to tell the story of the changes occurring here and now in the life of the College. In 2009 Amherst College enrolled a total of 1,690 students.

1. Between FY05 and FY09 the decrease in the total number of outgoing phone calls placed by College employees: 117,823 calls, or 25%.

2. In the same period, the decrease in the total number of incoming calls: less than 2%.

3. Number of employees with College-provide Blackberries: 81.

Abdulla Mizead explains how a visionary alum, a group of dedicated students and a supportive college community brought stories of everyday life in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan to the world and cutting edge journalism to Swarthmore College.

With VIPEr, a group of inorganic chemists used social networking technologies to build a scientific community for support, exchange of ideas, and friendship. It's all in the interest of improving chemistry education across campuses and having a bit of fun in the process.

At Carleton College students work with visual materials in all parts of the curriculum. So how do you make sure they get the technical support they need? An extensive research study of faculty and students led to a new coordinated support model. Andrea Lisa Nixon, Heather Tompkins and Paula Lackie explain how they got it done.

The History Engine offers a rich digital repository of episodes from American history and even more important, a chance for undergraduates to "do history" long before the senior seminar.

The Collaborative Liberal Arts Moodle Project, or CLAMP as it's better known, proves the power of collaboration across campuses. By creating a network of Moodle users from multiple campuses across the country, CLAMP has developed a highly effective system for adapting the open-source software Moodle for the specific needs of liberal arts colleges. 

Luke Fernandez reports out from Apple's AcademiX 2009. In current economic climes, it's an inexpensive conference option--thanks to Apple--and as Fernandez discovers, it offers an engaging exploration of digitial technologies and their impact on teaching and learning. For upcoming AcademiX 2009 conferences, see http://www.apple.com/education/academix/  . Normal 0

How can faculty from diverse disciplines cultivate and share knowledge about teaching practice?   In these essays, Tom Carey and Jennifer Meta Robinson explore the challenges of creating a digital repository for teaching resources, envision what a SOTL repository might look like, and discuss how such a repository would influence the emerging field of SOTL and its growing community of practitioners. The pieces are introduced by John Rakestraw, who reflects on the distinctive nature of SOTL as a field and points out further questions to consider in the process of developing a SOTL repository.

How can faculty from diverse disciplines cultivate and share knowledge about teaching practice? In these essays, Tom Carey and Jennifer Meta Robinson explore the challenges of creating a digital repository for teaching resources, envision what a SOTL repository might look like, and discuss how such a repository would influence the emerging field of SOTL and its growing community of practitioners. The pieces are introduced by John Rakestraw, who reflects on the distinctive nature of SOTL as a field and points out further questions to consider in the process of developing a SOTL repository.

How can faculty from diverse disciplines cultivate and share knowledge about teaching practice? In these essays, Tom Carey and Jennifer Meta Robinson explore the challenges of creating a digital repository for teaching resources, envision what a SOTL repository might look like, and discuss how such a repository would influence the emerging field of SOTL and its growing community of practitioners. The pieces are introduced by John Rakestraw, who reflects on the distinctive nature of SOTL as a field and points out further questions to consider in the process of developing a SOTL repository.