The Renaissance-era “commonplace book” was an intellectual journal that individuals such as Isaac Newton and John Locke used to store ideas in order to return to them for future publishing projects. For the classroom, Arthur has adapted the Renaissance commonplace book to an online format using the Google docs “slides” program. This Google docs platform is more versatile than standard word processing, and allows for students to express ideas and form arguments in a creative way that is easy to share online among students for peer review yet still retains privacy from the public internet. 

This session will be of interest to all who want to learn more about the commonplace book, and how this tool can be used in today’s learning environment.  It will also be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about how they can use Google docs within their courses.