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CLE Naming Contest Results -- eCommons!

The campus steering committee overseeing the deployment of the new collaborative learning environment (CLE) organized a naming contest which ran during the summer and fall 2009. We are happy to introduce "eCommons" as the winning name. The underlying technology powering the UCSC eCommons environment is Sakai, an open source application used by hundreds of institutions including Stanford, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and UC Merced.

The name "eCommons" was selected because it denotes a space that can be used for learning and academic collaboration with modern Web 2.0 capabilities. With a nod to our past and to our foundational commitment to integrate common space areas in our colleges and libraries, the eCommons will strive to recreate in a virtual environment the strong sense of community, student engagement, and open discourse that is so much a part of academic life at UCSC. Combining access to course content with tools that promote the collaborative aspects of learning, the eCommons is a place where students and faculty can connect, learn, and exchange ideas.

Early testing of eCommons is currently underway with broader implementation planned for the spring and summer of 2010. ITS Learning Technologies will continue to provide WebCT services to our faculty and students until eCommons is fully available in Fall 2010.

Sakai Implementation Project information at: Sakai Project
Learning Management System Service Information: LMS Information