The COjourn vision and mission...
Students and educators:
a community of scholars and writers
COjourn is unique by combining into one an undergraduate and educator journal as well as being geographically- and community- specific.
The nature of scholarly communication is that the writings of a community, a state, are scattered and disconnected in various publications without a unifying locus. Too often the writings of the general academic community within a state and its communities are likewise scattered without a central access point. COjourn provides a portal not only to aid the finding and retrieval of specific topics, but provides a way of discovery of new ideas and topics. But even beyond that, COjourn, through the proximity of geography and mutual interests, can facilitate new relationships, bringing together a closer communal spirit for intellectual discourse and collaborations within and across different disciplines and topic interests.
For students
We believe that students have valuable ideas about the world around us. Unfortunately, most students only get to share their best ideas—the ones they write about every day in academic essays and research papers—with their teachers and professors, and occasionally their peers.
Further, we believe that in the classroom students are engaged to investigate issues and topics from a world-view perspective often at the expense of adequate inclusion or attention and focus on Colorado-related matters.
The goal of COjourn—The Colorado Issues Journal—is to promote, encourage, and facilitate Colorado-issues related research, scholarship, journalistic writing, and exchange of ideas by college students and academics across all disciplines.
COjourn aims to raise awareness and interest in local issues that should not be the exclusive or obvious domain of voters, politicians, or those who have a stated stake or interest in local matters. COjourn aims to raise students’ consciousness of the relevance of local matters in their daily lives, as well as how local concerns connect to the broader national and world landscape. A bi-product of these attainments will be an enhanced civic and community engagement on a lifelong basis.
Research is a vital component of scholarship and learning. What is research? One definition (adapted from The Council on Undergraduate Research) is, An inquiry or investigation that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline.
By providing a platform for student research, COjourn is committed to involving students in an enriched learning environment, providing a vehicle of expression whereby they develop the necessary skills, including that of information literacy and critical thinking, for academic, career, and personal success.
Research prepares students for the complexities of the real world by providing a learning experience in current thought-provoking, life-engaging settings. Research not only stimulates and sharpens problem-solving and communication skills, but immerses students in cutting-edge investigation and scholarship. Researching local issues, which are more personally relevant and that more directly impact the student, provides additional motivation and engagement to the student.
For educators
In addition to providing a platform for student scholarly research, COjourn supplies a place for students interested in journalistic writing when their institution either does not have a newspaper or magazine, or as a supplement to existing campus publications to widen exposure of one's writing in a centralized, statewide source more easily accessible by a larger readership.
COjourn is also a publishing vehicle for educators—faculty, professional support staff, administrators—to write about any Colorado issues they have an interest in (including political, social, economic, career, education), or in their particular academic field. National publications do not always have sufficient space or willingness to accommodate local topics and issues, and often are not appropriate platforms for the endless topics that local communities deal with. COjourn provides a creative outlet for students and academics that normally would be unavailable or difficult to find. As an online "open access" journal, COjourn affords maximum free exposure and dissemination of scholarly work that, before the Internet, would have been impossible to imagine.
Links
Political Engagement 101 >>>
The Political Engagement Project of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching >>>
The Political Engagement Project (PEP) addresses a serious problem facing American democracy - the growing disengagement of young people from politics. In order to strengthen education for responsible, engaged citizenship among college students, the PEP will document and study a diverse collection of academic courses and programs that represent creative approaches to undergraduate political education.
Educating for Democracy student activities >>>
New York Times civic engagement resources >>>
