It's Academic

Anticipating the Future is Human Nature, Risky and Necessary

March 4, 2020

Anticipating the future is human nature, risky and necessary. At least according to the introduction of the Horizon Report just released by EDUCAUSE, Emerging Technologies & Practices and Influential Trends, 2020. However it also acknowledges that the accuracy of predictions in past Horizon Reports are “middling” at best.

So, this year they have kept the ternary time horizon structure of past reports but adopted identifying trends which will cause departures from the past, impact the present, and help determine the future. Evidence for these trends is included. The trend categories are social, technological, economic, political and higher education.

Emerging Technologies & Practices and Influential Trends, 2020

Mind Map by EDUCAUSE based on 2020 Horizon Report

They have stood by the Horizon Report’s standard of not simply making a list of “hyped technologies for the field to debate and debunk” (4). The emerging technologies and practices they do discuss on pages 13-31 are:

elevation of instructional design, learning engineering and user-experience design
open educational resources
artificial intelligence/machine learning
cross-reality technologies
analytics for student success
adaptive learning

The report also presents scenarios on how the future may unfold in the next 10 years: growth, constraint, collapse, or transformation. Even if growth is achieved it will be “with some unrealized goals and even some setbacks” (33). Constraint would be due to “the values of efficiency and sustainability” and “escalating financial pressures as a result of shrinking enrollments and decreased funding from state and other sources” (34). Collapse would be the result of “a new ecosystem of education” (35). Transformation considers “two primary forces: the dangers posed by climate change and the advances in digital technology” (36).

Another important new component is a series of essays responding to the findings of the Report (pages 37-55). Written by Horizon Report panelists, they touch on implications for educational and global sectors, such as U.S. Community Colleges, Australian Higher Ed, “Corporate Perspective on AI/Machine Learning,” and “Campuses Most at Risk from Climate Change.” The Report includes its methodology and roster of panelists.

C&CS Academic Libraries and Autism Spectrum Disorder available for viewing

March 4, 2020

by Erin B.

Yesterdays session, “Academic Libraries and Autism Spectrum Disorder” is now available on YouTube. Link will remain available for a year. Gerry and Sebastian are wonderfully informed about the topic. Slides will be available on the C&CS page, https://crdpala.org/connect-communicate/

Special thanks to Sara Pike for doing our closed captioning and Diane Porterfield for moderating.

We also invite those who are not PaLA members to consider joining the Pennsylvania Library Association, which helps support programs like this one. If interested in becoming a member or for more information about the CRD, contact Katie Manwiller at Katie.Manwiller@desales.edu

Thanks!

Call for Co-Editors, Pennsylvania Libraries: Research and Practice (PaLRaP) due 3/31

March 3, 2020

by elm43

Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice (PaLRaP) Seeks a Co-Editor

This is a two-year renewable-term volunteer opportunity, beginning in mid-2020.

Responsibilities

Work in close collaboration with a co-editor to manage all aspects of Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice, producing 2 issues each year.
Oversee all submissions moving through the publication process from initial submission to peer review, revision, layout, and final proofreading.
Work closely with a volunteer editorial team including news editors, copy editors, and layout editors.
Recruit and communicate with peer-reviewers as needed.
Communicate and work with authors to provide feedback on submissions as well as strong editorial guidance as needed.
Prepare updates and editorials as appropriate.
Oversee use of Online Journal System (OJS) software platform by authors, reviewers, and editorial staff, answering questions about its functionality and recommending best practices
Conduct or assist with training of new editorial staff
Remain in close communication with the journal publisher, the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh and the journal sponsor, the College & Research Division (CRD) of the Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA).
Solicit submissions for all types of articles.

Required Qualifications

Experience writing for professional publications.
Significant experience working in Pennsylvania libraries.
Current member of the Pennsylvania Library Association and the College & Research Division.
Excellent communication skills required. Co-Editor must be willing and able to respond to numerous email messages in a timely manner.

Preferred Qualifications

Editorial experience.
Knowledge of issues related to open access scholarly publishing.

Submit a letter of interest and a resume to Emily Mross, PaLA College & Research Division Chair, at ELM43@psu.edu by March 31.

OER Webinars from Millersville University

March 2, 2020

by Alex K.

Millersville University will be hosting a series of free webinars about OER all this week. Several webinars focus on case studies of using OER for a specific class, which should lead to useful real-world advice. Here are some of the topics they’ll be covering.

BUILDING OER INITIATIVES AS PART OF THE OPENSTAX INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
K-12 OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCES
CASE STUDY: BIOLOGY ADOPTION AND DESIGN
CASE STUDY: ART HISTORY OPEN ADOPTION
CASE STUDY: ENGLISH COMPOSITION ADOPTION

To see the full details and times of each webinar visit their website here: https://www.millersville.edu/cae/open-education/index1.php

C&CS Presents: Academic Freedom for Academic Librarians: Do We Have It, and How Do We Know? Scheduled for March 13 at 1pm EST, Noon CST

March 2, 2020

by Erin B.

C&CS Presents

Academic Freedom for Academic Librarians:

Do We Have It, and How Do We Know?

Presented by Danya Leebaw and Alexis Logsdon

March 13 at 1pm EST, noon central

Click here for Zoom Registration link

In this session, Danya Leebaw and Alexis Logsdon will discuss the landscape of academic freedom for academic librarians. Many academic librarians think that we are protected by academic freedom policies, but is that really true? We conducted a survey in 2018, collecting information from hundreds of librarians on their experiences with academic freedom. In this session, we will highlight key findings, including how academic freedom experiences correlate to socioeconomic identities and job status. We will also offer concrete suggestions for exploring your own existing academic freedom protections and ways to advocate for stronger ones.

Danya Leebaw

Danya Leebaw is the Social Sciences & Professional Programs Director at the University of Minnesota Libraries. Prior to this position, she was a social sciences librarian at Carleton College and a business librarian at Emory University. She earned her MLIS at the University of Pittsburgh and her BA in History from Grinnell College.

Alexis Logsdon

Alexis Logsdon is the Humanities Research and Digital Scholarship Librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries. Before Minnesota, she served as a research and instruction librarian at Macalester College, and in a variety of adjunct and temporary librarian positions prior to that. She holds an MLIS from UW Milwaukee, an MA in English from UC Berkeley, and a BA in English from the City College of New York (CUNY).

C&CS would like to thank the CRD and PaLA for continued support of our initiative, which is paid for in part by membership dues. If you are not a PaLA member but are a student or active librarian in Pennsylvania, consider joining PaLA!