Textbooks have long been a source of financial strain on college students, and can sometimes interfere with the accessibility of higher education as a whole.
To try and help with this issue, Western Sydney University and ProQuest teamed up to provide free digital textbooks to incoming university students through the University’s library. This article from No Shelf Required includes statements from both the University and ProQuest regarding the collaboration. Some of the goals for collaboration include making the cost of college more affordable, and textbooks more accessible, particularly to students with disabilities. The digital textbooks come from 60 academic publishers and can be accessed by students via Ebook Central which is ProQuest’s ebook platform. Continue reading Western Sydney University and ProQuest team up for free digital textbooks→
So, what do you get when you gather one million college course syllabuses off of university websites, extract some of their key components (metadata), dump it all into a big database, and add a powerful search engine named Syllabus Explorer? You get the Open Syllabus Project!
According to the New York Times….”The hope and expectation is that this tool will enable people to learn new things about teaching, publishing and intellectual history. We think that the Syllabus Explorer demonstrates how more open strategies can support teaching, diversify evaluation practices and offer new perspectives on publishing, scholarship and intellectual traditions.”
Without a doubt, this Project is controversial, but I will let you read the full article to weigh in on the issues. Read more now….
Where is Higher Education headed? Expansion? Contraction? Maybe a little of both? What are the things keeping college presidents up at night? That was the premise behind University Business’s interview with 30 Higher Education thought leaders. This easy read identifies the thought leader, and their very short description of a trend. Skim it now….
One common trend was the idea of remote learning. This is the idea of online classes and/or some students taking classes remotely and not in a traditional classroom. How will Academic Libraries evolve to serve these students? Some are already serving remote students with a robust website and online content. While others have decided to position themselves in the hands-on, in-person niche. Regardless of which type of student you serve, ensuring access to the materials they need will always be important!
Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/o9gpyt6, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Kent State’s “Transitioning to College” resource is here just in time for spring graduation! This wonderful website can help get those college-bound seniors ready for that jump to college. With sections on “what to expect at college” and “tips for college research”, the guide goes beyond simple information literacy with practical topics to ease the nervous future college student.
From the site: “This guide provides information about the changes you will face during the transition from high school to college. You will find general information about college and how college differs from high school, but the focus of this guide is on college libraries as an academic support service, college level research expectations, and the research process.”
The ACT National Curriculum Survey is a nationwide survey of educational practices and expectations. Conducted every three to five years by ACT, the survey collects data about what entering college students should know and be able to do to be ready for college-level coursework in English, math, reading, and science. The 2012 ACT National Curriculum Policy report found that high school teachers think their students are ready for college, but college professors beg to differ. In fact, data showed that 89 percent of high school teachers report their students are “well” or “very well” prepared for college-level work in the subject they teach, while just 26 percent of college instructors say incoming students are “well” or “very well” prepared for entry-level courses. This discrepancy in perception has remained consistent to the 2009 survey results. An interesting dilemma for educators in both high schools and colleges! CMLE staff have noticed a similar experience through our Bridging Information Literacy Across Libraries initiative work. We know that many high school media specialists teach information literacy skills, but somehow, some of the teachings don’t “stick” and students experience difficulty doing research, writing, and citing sources in college. Talking across library types can be a powerful beginning to better understand this issue. CMLE will continue to act as a bridge for this conversation to happen between high school media specialists and college librarians. We also hope to include public librarians in future “Bridging” work too. We welcome your ideas for future programming in this area.
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
