Over the span of just nine months in 2011 and 2012, the world's most famous universities and high-powered technology entrepreneurs began a race to revolutionize higher education. College courses that had been kept for centuries from all but an elite few were released to millions of students throughout the world -- for free. Exploding college prices and a flagging global economy, combined with the derring-do of a few intrepid innovators, have created...

Despite the celebrated history of not-for-profit institutions of higher education, today more than 2 million students are enrolled in for-profit colleges such as ITT Technical Institute, the University of Phoenix, and others. Yet little is known about why for-profits have expanded so quickly and even less about how the power and influence of this big-money industry impact individual lives. Lower Ed links the rapid expansion of for-profit degrees to...

Faced with planning a one-shot library instruction session, librarians can feel hard-pressed to squeeze in all their library has to offer along with tips on the research process. Authentic learning with student interaction may seem unattainable in only an hour. But it's not. The keys are communicating clearly with the course instructor, developing a realistic plan, and employing effective teaching strategies. With more than 30 years' combined experience...

As a professor at Yale, Bill Deresiewicz saw something that troubled him deeply. His students, some of the nation's brightest minds, were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically and creatively, and how to find a sense of purpose. Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications Deresiewicz saw firsthand...

"Our current system of higher education dates to the period from 1865 to 1925, when the nation's new universities created grades and departments, majors and minors, in an attempt to prepare young people for a world transformed by the telegraph and the Model T. As Cathy N. Davidson argues in The New Education, this approach to education is wholly unsuited to the era of the gig economy. From the Ivy League to community colleges, she introduces us to...

"A teacher-tested, research-based resource for dramatically improving reading skills. Published in partnership with WestEd, this significantly updated second edition of the bestselling book contains strategies for helping students in middle school through community college gain the reading independence to master subject area textbooks and other material. Based on the Reading Apprenticeship program, which three rigorous "gold standard" research studies...

"Approaching disability from the perspective of difference, the authors of this new volume offer guidance on creating more inclusive learning environments on campus so that all students--whether or not they have a recognized disability--have the opportunity to succeed. Strategies for supporting students with specific learning disabilities, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder or who display learning and behavioral characteristics...