Volume 2
Introduction To The Second Volume
We are happy and pleased to bring you the second volume of Issues in Teaching
and Learning, an e-journal housed at Rhode Island College. This edition introduces
several new features. They include:
- The first is a compilation of recent papers and presentations by faculty at
Rhode Island College on teaching and learning. Some of these presentations and
papers are posted in online journals like this one and where possible, we have
provided links and invite you to read these works. You'll find this in the
section titled
"The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:
Contributions by Rhode Island College Faculty and Staff".
- Second, we have included two pieces that we're calling "short reports." These
essays focus on activities and research on campus having to do with matters
affecting teaching and learning. Volume 2 includes a report by Lisa Church
on the activities of the ad-hoc committee on grade inflation at Rhode Island
College and a brief report by James McCroskery regarding RIC's preparation to
participate in the American Democracy Project.
- The final innovation taps into one of the most useful applications of
electronic-based communication, i.e., the capability to create forums for
interactive discussions. In this issue, the co-editors propose a teaching
question that we hope will stimulate thinking and conversation. We will post
this electronic discussion on this web site and encourage you to contribute
to this dialogue.
In addition to the new features mentioned above, Volume 2 presents four
articles that span an interesting range of teaching and learning topics. These
include the impact of the information glut and information technology on the
role of the library in the academy, a call for including explicit development
of skill in applying influence and political tactics in educational
administration programs, the importance of local places in teaching and
research, and the history and current state of service-learning in higher
education.
A short progress report regarding Issues in Teaching and Learning. In this
first twelve months of operation, Issues in Teaching and Learning experienced
8599 unique site visits. We have received comments and questions from other
campuses about the journal and have been encouraged to write about our
experiences in professional publications. We would like to integrate the
journal with ongoing and new campus projects and initiatives, like the
Writing Board, Promising Practices, Dialogue on Diversity, the American
Democracy Project, the various teaching awards, and other activities.
Volume 3 of ITL will make note of the College's 150th anniversary by creating
a special edition that both traces the history of the College's work in teaching
and learning, especially teacher preparation, and looks ahead to the future.
We are interested in seeing articles that examine changes in student
populations, in technology, in curriculum, and in other aspects of campus
work. How has our understanding of what it means to be an educated person
changed over the past 150 years? What is the impact of technology on
teaching? How has teacher preparation changed and how do we expect that to
change? Visit the Call for Submissions section to get the
guidelines for submitting your work to ITL.
We would like to welcome two new members of the Editorial Board. Lisa Church,
Associate Professor of Accounting (and contributor to both Volumes 1 and 2),
joins us from the School of Management and Technology. We are also pleased to
welcome Dan Weisman, Professor of Social Work in the School of Social Work,
to the board. Professor Weisman is also the author of an article that appeared
in our first volume.
We extend our appreciation to all the members of the Editorial Board who (in addition to Lisa and Dan) include Roger Clark (Sociology),
Elizabeth Henshaw (Feinstein School of Education & Human Development), Brian McCadden (Feinstein
School of Education & Human Development), James McCroskery (Academic Affairs)
and Mark Motte (Geography). We are also grateful to Karen Rubino and Jeff Drury
of the College web team for the design and the production of the journal.
Sandra Enos, who has served as editor/co-editor for the first two issues of
our publication, will step down from those duties, but remain on the editorial
board.
The publication of the first two volumes of Issues in Teaching and Learning
has been supported by funds from the Faculty Development Fund. Our next issue
will be made possible funding from the Office of the Vice President for Academic
Affairs. Thanks to Dan King, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, for his
support.
Randy DeSimone
Sandra Enos
Co-editors, Volume 2
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