Editor's Comment

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited.  _Plutarch

Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.  _John Cotton Dana

Never lose a holy curiosity.  _Albert Einstein

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (IJ-SoTL) aspires to be an agent and catalyst for SoTL’s transforming work for a renewed awareness of and attentiveness to teaching and learning, for questioning assumptions and thinking about teaching, and for systematic and effective ways to improve learning and teaching in higher/tertiary education.  IJ-SoTL’s goal is to serve as a crucible or nexus for creating contacts, conversations, contemplation, and collaborations in connection with SoTL.

Welcome to the inaugural issue of this experiment to create a premier, peer-reviewed, deeply international SoTL journal.  Much like its symbol, bamboo, and with your participation, IJ-SoTL can grow rapidly in many (academic) climates and be a sign of the vitality of SoTL and, therefore, a sign of the energy needed for developing authentic, enduring student learning outcomes.

The foundation for IJ-SoTL is its Editorial Review Board composed of members from some 30 countries and 6 continents (it has been tough finding a reviewer in Antarctica).  I want to thank those members for all their generous work in giving IJ-SoTL immediate credibility due to their knowledge, experience, and reputations.

And a special thank you to all our authors whose work is the substance of IJ-SoTL.  In this issue those authors are from Australia, Scotland, Hungary, and the United States.  While English is the language of the journal, I hope authors from many parts of the world will send their work to IJ-SoTL so that it becomes increasingly international in scope. 

Very importantly, I also want to thank all the people from various countries ( Australia, England, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Mexico, Canada, Turkey, Nigeria, Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, USA ) who submitted manuscripts that were not accepted for publication. I hope the review process and the reviewers' comments have been of benefit to their SoTL work.  Many manuscripts were received and the acceptance rate for this issue was about 15%.  

This issue contains 1) Invited Essays by people with international and prominent reputations for advocacy of SoTL, 2) Research Articles that demonstrate the research-led, evidence-based nature of SoTL and its applications for improving learning, 3) Essays About SoTL that focus on various roles and potentials for SoTL in academic contexts and communities, 4) Book Reviews of key books about SoTL, and 5) ways for readers to join the reflections and conversations about SoTL.

Those ways include contacting authors via their email addresses to discuss their articles and essays; writing critical responses to articles or essays for possible inclusion in the “Readers’ Responses” section of the subsequent issue; joining the IJ-SoTL listserv for asynchronous conversations about SoTL (currently about 300 international subscribers from many countries), and sending your suggestions for improving IJ-SoTL to aaltany@georgiasouthern.edu.

The second issue of IJ-SoTL will be published in July 2007. The deadline for submitting articles and essays for that issue is May 15, 2007. See the Call for Papers and Submitting Manuscripts for details.

Thank you for reading this issue, and future issues, of IJ-SoTL.  Readers are the keystone to the journal being profoundly international in its Review Board, authors, and readership.  If IJ-SoTL fulfills its vision, it will be because of you and others like you around the world who seek improvement, even transformation, of student learning in higher/tertiary education today.
                                                                                               

Alan Altany, Editor

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten. _Schlechty

Information cannot replace education. _Imparato & Itarari

We think too much about effective methods of teaching and
not enough about effective methods of learning.  _John Carolus