Tadween Roundup: News and Analysis from the Publishing/Academic World

Tadween Publishing brings you the latest news and analysis from the publishing and academic worlds that relate to pedagogy and knowledge production.

Publishing

Penguin and Random House officially close merger to become Penguin Random House
By Adi Robertson (The Verge)

The highly anticipated, and feared, merger of book publishers Penguin and Random House has officially morphed into Penguin Random House. The merger has had a drastic impact on the book publishing market, reducing the six big book publishers to five. The domination of Penguin Random House in the market is already evident with eleven of the twenty-five best-selling e-books (nearly half) this week belonging to the publishing house.

Apple Verdict Marks Digital Power Shift in Book Publishing
By Sam Gustin (TIME)

A federal judge concluded that Apple had indeed violated US law when it conspired with five of the biggest book publishers in a scheme to raise e-book prices. The verdict will undoubtedly have an impact on the publishing industry, writes Sam Gustin. Publishers’ ability to influence the retail prices of e-books will be limited, giving them less power in the digital book world.

Open-access platform Libre to launch
By Paul Jump (Times Higher Education)

Hoping to steer control away from journals and academic publishers who charge hefty prices, a new open access platform called Libre will officially launch in October. The platform will be run by the UK-registered non-profit Open Scholar, and will host open reviews of manuscripts solicited by authors.

How long does it take to write a book
(PowerUp)

PowerUp, an analytics tool that turns “projects and goals into stories,” has an interesting graphic that gives an estimate for how long it might take to write a book. Plug in how many words you write per minute, the number of pages you want for your book, and other bits of information and it will provide you with a day count for how long it will take to complete your masterpiece.

Education

The ‘educational’ value of being born rich
By P.L. Thomas (Washington Post)

P.L. Thomas offers an interesting take on how to improve education standards among America’s impoverished children. Using education and poverty statistics from South Carolina as an example, Thomas argues that taxpayer money should be spent on social reform rather than education reform. Spending money towards creating more tests and standards will not change the economic reality for children in poverty, whereas social reforms can affect both, he claims.

A University’s Offer of Credit for a MOOC Gets No Takers
By Steve Kolowich (Chronicle of Higher Education)

Colorado State University’s attempt to offer credit to students who passed a MOOC, a massive open online course (read Tadween’s blog post about MOOCs here), appears not to have caught on with students. Despite the cheap discount for the course, the offer seemingly had no takers.

Senators reach long-term deal on student loan interest rates
By Libby A. Nelson (Inside Higher Ed)

After a months-long debate, US senators finally reached a deal on student loan interest rates, agreeing to tie the interest rate on new student loans to market conditions.

Op-Ed: The Humanities in Crisis? Not at Most Schools
By Scott Saul (New York Times)

With less students majoring in fields such as English and philosophy, some believe that the humanities are in decline. Scott Saul disagrees with the pessimistic outlook that most studies have projected onto humanities, arguing that the focus of these studies has been largely placed on private or elite schools, overshadowing how humanities are holding up at other institutions.

A Visual Guide to Online Learning
By Katie Lepi (Edudemic)

According to an infographic from Edudemic depicting the latest trends in online learning, the use of online education is growing faster than traditional classroom education. The growth rate for traditional classes is two percent, which pales in comparison to the ten percent growth rate for online classes.