The Synavrio Journal, founded in 2017, began as a classroom assignment introduced by Mark Gaither, a Business Technology instructor at Lower Columbia College. The assignment was based on the Self Organized Learning Environment (S.O.L.E.) teaching and learning process developed by Sugata Mitra (Mitra and Dangwal, 2010). The first assignment involved groups of four to “brainstorm” the creation of an undergraduate peer-reviewed science journal. The second assignment involved creating the actual journal style-guide. The class as a whole, working as a community, became the founding editors for the Synavrio Journal. In the process, the decision was made to include all academic articles by college students.

When the journal was introduced to members of the Business & Information Technology Club, a decision was made to put the assignment into motion. Students reported on the progress journal development and presented the concept journal to a classroom full of science students. These students were introduced to the process that would allow them, if they met the required criteria, to be published in an academic journal. Fundraising events have enabled the club to support the publishing expenses for ongoing publication of the Synavrio Journal.

Founding Editors: BTEC 111 Word Processing I, Winter 2017:

A learning concept introduced originally in 2007, by Professor Sugata Mitra, revolving around a ‘Self Organized Learning Environment’ where students are self-directed to solve and implement a task or project. The focus is on learning “how to” versus textbook instruction. Skills gained include:

• Team interaction
• Critical problem solving
• Self-guided learning