For nearly a decade, we've taken heart from the talk of what it takes to find "the courage to teach." Anticipating his acclaimed book of the same title, the Forum ran an article by Parker Palmer called "The Courage to Teach" in our second issue (V1N2, 1991). I think William Cohen's frank critique of the "grade point average" or GPA that runs as the cover feature in this issue of the Forum continues the tradition of courage that characterizes the best teaching.

Sadly, however, there's still a lot of courage lacking in academe. Laura Border reflects on the absence of courage and the effects of that absence in her DEVELOPER'S DIARY which appears this month as supplementary material posted only on the Forum's web site (www.ntlf.com).

The how and why of learning remain endlessly fascinating, and the theories that have unfolded over time to describe learning each capture only a glimpse of the whole. In their reflections on some of the most well-known theories (and their shortcomings) Patricia Cranton and Laurence Robert Cohen remind us that knowledge has not only layers of complexity and detail, but also layers of meaning and usefulness as well. There is an "emancipatory" element in knowing, and when we remain mindful of the layers in knowledge, we can intensify the effectiveness of our teaching.

Last year, the Forum was pleased to run two special supplements reporting on the investigations being carried on by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. Our interest in this scholarship continues this year with the first of six articles by Craig Nelson, a Carnegie Scholar who's been well-known for his scholarly interest in teaching for a long time. Nelson's first article starts by examining research that began the serious investigation of a fundamental question: "Why is it that bright, hardworking students still often fail?" Although it's been around for several decades, William Perry's findings (and their implications) still have not fully penetrated the community. Hopefully, "Nelson's Notebook" will push them a little farther along.

R.W. Burniske from the University of Texas at Austin ponders what "civil literacy" might mean in the age of the Internet. What are the implications for teaching, not just subject matter, but the whole of the student? Bruniske has written a book--Literacy in the Cyberage: Composing Ourselves Online--exploring the question. This article gives a taste of his ideas on this important subject.

New twists on effective teaching are always welcome, but it may come as a surprise to faculty who've developed aching sitzfleisch listening to papers read at academic conferences that asking students to create a conference as their final course projects might be one of them. Fred A. Bonner, II, of Bowling Green State University has found, however, that students thrive on the challenge. In "enacting" their knowledge, they take greater possession of it and in having to cooperate with their peers, they begin to learn essential lessons about what it takes to get what you know heard.

Finally, Linc. Fisch's AD REM . . . picks up the theme of Mary Beaudry's article in the last issue of the Forum "How much content is enough?" (V9N4). Like courage and grades and so many other elements, content remains a problematic blessing. Because it has value, we teach it; because there's so much of it, we don't always know what to do with it. But teachers, like embattled doctors, must understand triage.

And so another fall term begins. Good luck to all of us.