INSTRUCTIONS AND GUIDLELINES FOR SUBMISSION:

Contributions/Submissions:

 Academic Commons is built by its members. We welcome submissions from faculty, administrators, staff, librarians, students, and anyone else with an interest in technology in liberal arts education. We need writers, editors, bibliographers, bloggers, and linkers. The website specifies for each section what sorts of contributions we are looking for. We invite submissions that examine a broad range of issues concerning the intersection of new technologies, liberal arts education, and scholarly communication. Want to contribute? We are looking for ideas and contributions, links to and links from your sites. The Academic Commons is open to a diversity of theoretic paradigms and methodologies.

Submission Evaluation Criteria

In order to help contributors understand our editorial focus, we have laid out for all to see the questions we ask of all contributions:

Is it consistent with the values and concerns of liberal arts education, that is,  

• Promoting the free and open exchange of ideas and intellectual and creative work; 
• showing an understanding of, and sensitivity to, different modes of inquiry and their value for the larger academic enterprise;  
• demonstrating a respect for evaluative processes anchored within professional expertise and based on practices of open and rational deliberation;
• placing a focus on student-student and faculty-student interactions both inside and outside the classroom? 
  

Does it address issues concerning technology, such as

• linking people through synchronous and asynchronous communication and promoting online communities;
• using searchable and interactive databases that gather and allow manipulation of digital information (text, sound, image, video);  
• employing simulations and other interactive strategies involving testing of variables and complex input-output relationships;  
• using multimedia for instruction, expression, and interaction  

Does it explore the relationship of technology to liberal arts education,

• involving assessment of practice and measurement of outcomes;  
• exploring on theoretical and practical levels, offering specific analysis; 
• explicitly addressing teaching and learning with technology?  

Is it well written, that is,  

• readable and interesting;  
• contributing something  new to the discussion; 
• well informed, theoretically grounded, connected to the ongoing discussion?  

Is it useful, that is,  

• containing information, news, and views our readers can use; 
• offering something that readers will not likely find elsewhere;  
• providing insights that will extend and deepen the conversation on campuses, affect practice, and influence policy?   

1. Our main audience consists of faculty, librarians, staff, and administrators at liberal arts colleges. However, Academic Commons is intended for anyone, from inside or outside the academy, interested in technology in liberal arts education. We encourage authors to write with a clear, jargon-free style. Should a grammatical or stylistic question be raised by the editors, Academic Commons will follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Submissions originally delivered orally (a talk at a conference for example) should be retooled for a wider, reading audience. References to other speakers, a panel, etc. should be reworked. We reserve the right to make minor changes in any accepted submission that do not alter the substantial meaning of the piece or the expressed views of the author. Authors will be given the opportunity to approve all such changes and can withdraw their submission from consideration at any time.

2. It is assumed that only the original work of the author will be submitted for consideration. If this work has already been published or presented at conferences or symposia please include the complete publication information or the conference/symposium name, location and date.

3. Suggested word length will vary according to the type of submission. Many items, such as announcements, should be short (up to 500 words). Longer pieces such as essays should not exceed 3500 words in length. Authors will be asked to cut down and resubmit items that are too long. Guidelines for word lengths can be found on the "Contribute" page at: http://www.academiccommons.org/node/add(you will need to log in to see this page or to submit an item; registration is free).

4. We may at times elect to republish articles from other sources.

5. For solicited material, Academic Commons pays contributors a modest honorarium upon publication of  previously unpublished material.

6. Authors normally will have an editorial decision within one month of submitting an item.

7. Copyright of all materials published on Academic Commons remains with the author. Materials published at Academic Commons are made available to its readers with a share-alike Creative Commons license.   The comments published in Academic Commons reflect the opinions of the author(s) and not necessarily those of Academic Commons or its editors.

8. If you wish to submit an announcement, essay, interview, blog entry, poster, review, showcase, vignette or weblink, please join the Academic Commons by clicking "Join" from any page on the site and following the instructions. Once logged in, you will be able to contribute an item.