"Community" is a term that is especially important, and especially problematic, in education today. We use computers, the Internet, and other means of telecommunications to link more kinds of people, in more kinds of ways, than ever before. But these distributed groups are often composed of people who are distant from one another (at least some of the time), different from one another and somewhat unfamiliar to one another. This is also a description of a traditional campus, with its many departments and offices. But it's an even better description of what online interaction makes possible: "communities" of professionals and learners whose specialties are diverse, whose potential is great, whose engagement with one another is only part-time but extended over years, whose face-to-face interaction is occasional, and whose ability to make connections and decisions with each other has been limited by these conditions.

We'll discuss technologies that we use, and the personal and group strategies for thinking together, criticizing our work, and making choices. We'll talk about getting things done, how this all feels, and what it means for us as professionals and human beings.