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.

Education

Rank Irrelevance: How Academia Lost Its Way
By Peter Campbell and Michael C. Desch (Foreign Affairs)

Peter Campbell and Michael C. Desch write a critical review of the National Research Council’s ranking system and its disconnect from the reality and purpose of academia.

Harvard Business School Case Study: Gender Equity
By Jodi Kantor (New York Times)

The New York Times reports on Harvard Business School’s attempt to promote gender equity in a system that still upholds bias.

When Memorization Gets in the Way of Learning
By Ben Orlin (The Atlantic)

Does memorization bypass conceptual learning? Ben Orlin articulates the pros and cons of supporting memorization in the classroom.

PhD: So What Does it Really Stand for?
(The Guardian)

According to the Guardian, “PhD students and postdocs are the working class of academic research and paid accordingly.”

Why Haven’t Humanities PhD Programs Collapsed?
By Jordan Weissmann (The Atlantic)

With professional uncertainty being the only guarantee for most PhDs in the humanities, why are such programs still going strong?

LinkedIn Posts Graduate Employment Data by University
By Chris Parr (Times Higher Education)

LinkedIn, the social media network for professionals, has started publishing aggregated data on what each university’s students are doing after graduation.

High-Profile MOOC Professor Dumps Coursera
By Eliana Dockterman (TIME)

Professor Mitchell Duneier, who has been cited as an example of MOOCs’ success, dumps Coursea fearing that MOOCs and online courses will provide another excuse to cut state funding to universities.

More Students Turn to Social Media to Inform Their College Search
By Beckie Supiano (Chronicle of Higher Education)

According to a recent poll, 44 percent of prospective students in 2012 turned to social media for information on colleges and universities, a statistic that has more than doubled in the past four years.

Publishing

Readers Rejoice: Amazon Launching a Service to Bundle eBooks with Physical Purchases
By Ben Kuchera (The PA Report)

After much demand, Amazon announces its MatchBook program, to be launched in October, that will allow customers to purchase both the print and electronic copies of books rather than choose one over the other.

Are Publishers a Match for Kindle MatchBook
By Rachel Deahl (Publishers Weekly)

With Amazon’s recent announcement of its new MatchBook program that bundles e-books and print books, will publishers choose to participate or will they act with caution?

UK’s Open Access Policies Have Global Consequences
By Danny Kingsley (The Conversation)

In its attempt to be a leader in the open access movement, will the United Kingdom’s preference for “gold” open access do more harm than good?