I’m excited to announce Academic Commons, a new online journal-cum-workshop space devoted to “investigating and defining the role that technology can play in liberal arts education.” The August issue brings together an impressive array of articles – including essays by Richard Lanham and hypertext fiction writer Michael Joyce – and profiles several noteworthy projects.

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.

Sponsored by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College, Academic Commons provides groups and forums for catalyzing and developing collaborative projects, and is linked to LOLA, a learning object repository hosted at Wesleyan. Educators can come here to find incisive critical thinking on the meaningful use of technology in schools, and also can obtain concrete resources and contacts for use in their teaching. From the looks of the inaugural issue, it seems Academic Commons is set to become an important player.