Like most technologies, Web 2.0 learning tools can connect or divide us. The path we choose depends on how we understand and use the tools. Since ancient times, technological advances have stoked fears (among some) that our humanism will erode when new technologies grab hold of how we interact. No less a scholar than Socrates warned us that writing words down on parchment would kill our memories. Conversely, technological advances have also been seen as life-giving and nourishing, particularly by early indigenous populations who innovated to advance agriculture and irrigation. This fundamental separation — whether technology is bringing us together or pulling us apart — is alive in the 21st century, including within U.S. higher education. Students and faculty are the most impacted.

http://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/3/the-human-element-faculty-collaboration-in-an-increasingly-digital-world

This article discusses the broad and complex funder open access (OA) policy environment in the UK and describes some of the challenges libraries face in providing frictionless services to support academic compliance. It offers a view on the actions of publishers in this policy environment, as well as outlining how strategic discussions have moved beyond the library to include the whole institution. Finally it outlines the work being undertaken at Imperial College London to develop a new OA policy and licence which could support academics and institutions with compliance and HEFCE Research Excellence Framework eligibility in a single step.

http://insights.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/uksg.292/

Colleges and universities are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their contributions to students’ learning and development. In fact, over a decade ago, all of the regional accrediting agencies in the United States agreed to emphasize college students’ learning as central to the accrediting process. Under these increasingly pervasive expectations to demonstrate students’ learning, fully 85% of Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) members reported that they have a common set of learning outcomes for all undergraduates. Additionally, nearly 90% of Association of American Universities (AAU) member institutions reported using quantitative data to collect information on student learning outcomes, with 70% reporting that they had one employee or office specifically charged with developing, coordinating, or implementing assessments of student learning.

http://publications.arl.org/rli290/5

Academic librarians are pleased with the progress they’ve made in leading their campuses to recognize the value of Open Educational Resources (OER). Now publishers are responding to OER with new learning platforms. It may be time for a new strategy.

Academic librarians should be proud of their progress in promoting the value of OER adoption as a benefit to students. Library-led textbook affordability projects on college campuses have grown in popularity since I first promoted,in a 2009 edition of this column, the idea of academic librarians taking the lead at their institutions to encourage a new approach I referred to as “curricular resource strategies.” The terminology didn’t catch on, but the idea of tackling the textbook pricing crisis with library-...

The following key issues, according to Mal Booth, University Librarian, need to be dealt with if we are ever to substantially improve, let alone revolutionise, academic publishing: speed (to access); improved reach (wider audience, not just the privileged); transparency of process; openness (for access); an expectation to use multi-media (sound, video, images); appropriate metrics; better facility and recognition for collaboration across disciplines; and interactivity.

https://malbooth.com/2017/02/13/my-thoughts-on-revolutionising-scholarly-publishing-in-the-digital-age/