Introducing  Academic Commons

Academic Commons (http://www.academiccommons.org) offers a forum for investigating and defining the role that technology can play in liberal arts education. Sponsored by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College (http://liberalarts.wabash.edu), Academic Commons publishes essays, reviews, interviews, showcases of innovative uses of technology, and vignettes that critically examine technology uses in the classroom. Academic Commons aims to share knowledge, develop collaborations, and evaluate and disseminate digital tools and innovative practices for teaching and learning with technology. We want this site to advance opportunities for collaborative design, open development, and rigorous peer critique of such resources.

Academic Commons also provides a forum for academic technology projects and groups (the Developer's Kit) and a link to a new learning object referatory (LoLa). Our library archives all materials we have published and also provides links to allied organizations, mailing lists, blogs, and journals through a Professional Development Center.

Highlights of our First Edition
The first edition of Academic Commons features essays by Richard Lanham ("Copyright 101"), Michael Joyce ("Interspace: Our Commonly Valued Unknowing"), Patricia O'Neill and Janet Simons ("Using Technology in Learning to Speak the Language of Film"), and Michelle Glaros ("The Dangers of Just-In-Time Education"), and an interview with Gerald Graff. The issue also includes two teaching and learning "vignettes," a good handful of reviews (websites, hardware, and software) and showcases (exemplary academic web projects), and links to a variety of interesting teaching, learning, and technology projects. We've already formed a number of groups onsite and look forward to more participation. The complete Table of Contents is at http://academiccommons.org/august2005/.

Contribute!
We are always looking for contributions from faculty, librarians, technologists, and other stakeholders in the academic enterprise. We publish original content for which we pay a small honorarium. We also publish selected links to interesting and useful materials published elsewhere, as well as a growing collection of links to professional associations, resources, announcements and conferences organized into a Professional Development Center. Please consider playing a part in the Academic Commons!

Stay Informed!
Receive the Academic Commons's quarterly newsletter. If you are already a member of www.academiccommons.org, log onto the website and click on "My Account." Choose the Edit tab, then click on the Professional Information link. Check the box at the bottom of the page. If you are not already registered, join us at http://academiccommons.org/user/register. An RSS feed is available at http://academiccommons.org/rss.xml. Questions and comments can be sent to editor@academiccommons.org.
 
Academic Commons Editorial Board:

Founding Editors:
  Michael Roy, Wesleyan University, and John Ottenhoff, Alma College

Managing Editor: Jennifer Curran, Wesleyan University

Section Editors:

•   Essays: David Bogen, Emerson College
•   Reviews: Bryan Alexander, NITLE: The National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education
•   Interviews: Michael Roy, Wesleyan University
•   Showcase: Rachel Smith, NMC: The New Media Consortium
•   Announcements: Jennifer Curran, Wesleyan University
•   Center for Teaching and Learning:  John Ottenhoff, Alma College
•   Developer's Kit: Peter Schilling, Amherst College
•   Library: M. Claire Stewart, Northwestern University

See http://academiccommons.org/about/current-editors for more information about our editorial board. A listing of our advisory board is at http://academiccommons.org/about/current-board-members.