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some of you referenced Turkle's earlier work, Alone Together, on the ways in which technology is shifting not only our attention spans, but our interpersonal relationships - here is a brief review of Turkle's latest work

To Dr. Gal: Thanks for this link. I read the review. Somehow, I think Turkle's book is going to be more interesting than the review of it! Turkle is right. Most people appear to communicate mainly through their technological devices. At work, some younger employees (in their 20s) don't say anything to you (and I am not the only one who says this about some of these employees). It's as though the notion of conversation has become meaningless (and muted -- like sound that has been muted on your computer!) -- to some people -- unless it is done on some technological device. Then it's OK to unmute the sound. Sometimes I want to ask one of those non-talking 20-somethings if I need to download a sound driver, but I just remain muted -- just like them. Just my thoughts. Robert

Hi Robert, I will have to agree with you about the younger generation and how speaking to each other seems to be a thing of the past. Over the years, I been able to witness the oncoming medical students each year and as technology has advanced in the mobile device arena the less they spoke or interacted with each other.

From Gale: 3D printing enables physical objects to be constructed from a virtual 3D model with the aid of a computer-aided design (CAD) program. The CAD files and printed physical product may be protected by copyright law, covering rights to reproduce and distribute copies of the work, make derivative works and publicly display or perform the work. Copyright does not cover useful articles or works in the public domain. Libraries could become entangled in copyright infringement directly or secondarily by providing the equipment that may be used to infringe on a copyright. Libraries can manage their risks by developing and implementing policies regarding 3D printer use, including using a mediated service model and being mindful of the "unsupervised copying" exception in the copyright law for libraries and archives. Patron education on 3D printing provides an opportunity to explain library policies on use and copyright issues.

Ho, A. D., Reich, J., Nesterko, S., Seaton, D. T., Mullaney, T., Waldo, J., & Chuang, I. (2014). HarvardX and MITx: The first year of open online courses (HarvardX and MITx Working Paper No. 1). Retrieved from http://ssrn.com/abstract=2381263 The report analyzes in detail the interaction between the students and courses and draws conclusions based on the findings and suggests further research. One of the insights that makes MOOCs quite different than traditional classroom courses is the usage patterns. The authors pointed out that "[n]ew metrics, far beyond grades and course certification, are necessary to capture the diverse usage patterns in the data. A simple comparison of grades and viewed content shows thousands of users who fit a range of profiles. Of particular interest may be those students who accessed substantial course content but did not participate in assessments." (Ho, et al., 2014, p. 3.)

To Marian: I never really paid that much attention to MOOCs until you presented all this information on them. I suppose distance learning and MOOCs are the wave of the future. I am going to have to learn a lot more about MOOCs to understand where higher education may well be going -- at least at the undergraduate level.

Marian: We have an unusual culture where I work. If there is work, it comes with a price. We have many faculty who feel that they need to be paid a lot more to develop in this platform model. 100 students in a course is hard for them to imagine, but much of the grading can be automated. I would like to encourage the use of MOOCs for a few reasons, but I have two that are of value to the education industry. The first is students who are unsure of their educational goals can take advantage of the free or very low cost access to content to see if the path is for them. Second, there seems to be an opportunity for increased enrollment. This is an area that many institutions across the nation are struggling with. Having so much more online availability and larger classes could be part of the solution.

Basics of Open access in Academic libraries. "A commitment to scholarly work carries with it a responsibility to circulate that work as widely as possible: this is the access principle. In the digital age, that responsibility includes exploring new publishing technologies and economic models to improve access to scholarly work. Wide circulation adds value to published work; it is a significant aspect of its claim to be knowledge. The right to know and the right to be known are inextricably mixed. Open Access can benefit both" (Willinsky, 2010). Increasingly, this capacity to close the gap between developed and less developed countries through access to information becomes more important for educational, cultural, and scientific development.

However, the vast majority do not see online file-sharing as a big threat to creative industries. Across the board, artists and musicians are more likely to say that the internet has made it possible for them to make more money from their art than they are to say it has made it harder to protect their work from piracy or unlawful use. 52% of all artists and 55% of Paid Artists believe it should be illegal for internet users to share unauthorized copies of music and movies over file-sharing networks, compared to 37% of all artists and 35% of Paid Artists who say it should be legal.

This article provides a relatively compact, organized overview of the reasons and audiences for assessing teacher performance, followed by a review of various specific methods as actually practiced (mostly in the United States) and evaluating (meta-assessing?) these assessment methods. Despite being described as a "literature review," this reader found it to be more of an overview in general-few specific works of research are discussed. However, this reader will find its references section to be very useful as this project is continued.

Review of teacher appraisal practices.

From Gale: Russell is not alone in opposing the use of an ECL system. David Hansen, a clinical assistant professor and faculty research librarian at University of North Carolina School of Law, also served as the University of California-Berkeley School of Law's Digital Library Fellow for the Digital Library Copyright Project. His research has focused on how libraries and related information intermediaries can overcome copyright and other legal obstacles to provide better access to their collections online. He has written about copyright exceptions for libraries and archives under Section 108 of the Copyright Act, orphan works, mass digitization, copyright protection of metadata, and issues related to expanding copyright protection of traditional knowledge. Hansen is one of the facilitators for a project to create the Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use of Collections Containing Orphan Works for Libraries, Archives, and Other Memory Institutions, which was released in December 2014.

INTRODUCTION Copyright law is an increasingly important aspect of managing an academic library. This study investigated the copyright knowledge level of academic library deans and directors and their perceptions of how it affects their abilities to oversee the development and enforcement of copyright-related library policies. The perceived adequacy of the copyright training currently available in library schools was also examined. METHODS A random sample of academic library deans and directors was asked to complete a web-based survey articulating their level of copyright knowledge and perceptions associated with how they are able to apply it toward their work with policies. RESULTS Respondents scored a mean of 77.49% on ten questions of basic copyright law concepts. A majority of deans and directors indicated they believe their knowledge, as well as that of those working under their supervision, is adequate to make informed decisions. However, almost 90% of the respondents were either neutral or disagreed that library school programs are providing adequate training in copyright law to academic librarians

Yousef, A. M. F., Chatti, M. A., Wosnitza, M., & Schroeder, U. (2015). A Cluster Analysis of MOOC Stakeholder Perspectives. RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal, 12(1). pp. 74-90. doi http://dx.doi.org/10.7238/rusc.v12i1.2253 Abstract "Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are providing opportunities for thousands of learners to participate in free higher education courses online. MOOCs have unique features that make them an effective Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) approach. Institutions are offering a growing variety of MOOCs. Nevertheless, there are several crucial challenges that should be considered in the development of MOOCs, e.g., the drop-out rate of over 95% of course participants. One of the potential reasons for that is the complexity and diversity of MOOC participants. This diversity is not only related to the cultural and demographic profile, but also considers the diverse motives and perspectives when enrolled in MOOCs. This paper aims to cluster and analyze the different objectives of MOOC stakeholders to build a deeper and better understanding of their behaviors. Our main finding was a set of eight clusters, i.e., blended learning, flexibility, high quality content, instructional design and learning methodologies, lifelong learning, network learning, openness, and student-centered learning. This cluster schema creates a meaningful picture for the MOOC community" (p. 71). This is a peer reviewed scholarly article that uses qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze survey data on MOOC instructors and learners. Responses were relatively low: 158. The context is unclear - where did they get the sampling frame from? And why did they combine the learners and instructors? So there is some question as to the sample and it cannot be generalized. That said, they are innovative in their qualitative analysis. The qualitative work analyzed the open ended questions in their survey. They used a research method that allowed them to catego

Project Spotlight Page 2 of 2 Sometimes it's Lafreniere providing that assistance, and sometimes it's a fellow student. The system generates a unique set of problems for each student, while ensuring that they are based on the same mathematical concept. That randomization means students can work collaboratively, helping each other understand the mathematical procedure without copying each others' work.

knowledge worker to learning worker- includes a short video by Jacob Morgan

What is the current state of mobile services among academic libraries of the country's top 100 universities, and what are the best practices for librarians implementing mobile services at the university level? Through in--‐depth website visits and survey questionnaires, the authors studied each of the top 100 universities' libraries' experiences with mobile services. Results showed that all of these libraries offered at least one mobile service, and the majority offered multiple services. The most common mobile services offered were mobile sites, text messaging services, e--‐books, and mobile access to databases and the catalog. In addition, chat/IM services, social media accounts and apps were very popular. Survey responses also indicated a trend towards responsive design for websites so that patrons can access the library's full site on any mobile device. Respondents recommend that libraries considering offering mobile services begin as soon as possible as patron demand for these services is expected to increase. [Abstract from EBSCOHost Education Source: Full-text article available in ESC library databases.] Link: http://search.proquest.com.library.esc.edu/pqrl/docview/1691586122/5530379CBA1C4741PQ/3?accountid=8067 Yan Quan, L., & Briggs, S. (2015). A Library in the Palm of Your Hand: Mobile Services in Top 100 University Libraries. Information Technology & Libraries, 34(2), 133-148. doi:10.6017/ital.v34i2.5650

Robert, This link takes me to the ESC login, but after logging in I receive the following message: Failure to connect due an internal server error. I thought maybe this was due to a browser issue, but it occurred with Safari, FireFox & Chrome. I searched for and located the article online (http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ital/article/view/5650/pdf) - the research is interesting. Research presented confirms that "mobile [library] services are already ubiquitous among the country's top universities". My university's library services, catalogs, databases, ebook collections, etc. are also all accessible via online access from the university's library website page and directly via a link every LMS course shell. We have standardized certain items in all our LMS course shells and a link to the university's library resources is one of these standardized course shell items. If students have the mobile LMS app on a tablet/phone, again, all library services, catalogs, databases, & I believe ebooks?, etc. are accessible.

To Mark: I added in a link to get to this article and to all the articles I posted in the commercial databases. It is very interesting that ALL the ERIC links work but all the commercial links directly to the full-text PDF articles do not. Robert, December 1, 2015 I am sorry about this. I copied the link directly. Perhaps it did not work because you have to log in to the database first. The link will not take you there because you need to authenticate first, etc. Anyway, you can find the article in the EBSCOHost Education Source by title in the ESC databases. I realize that you already found it at another web site. That's OK, too. As long as you can access it. -- Robert

I thought this was a very good article. A couple of my courses we have talked a lot about collaborative learning and how important it is to work together so I found this really interesting. I really liked the tools that was shared in the article and the ones that I have not used or accessed before I did save the links to explore later.

Collaborative learning can be beneficial in so many ways for teachers and learners. My own children (middle school and high school) work on group projects for school while at home using google docs all the time. I have encouraged my own students to use google docs so they can never use the excuse "it's on my computer at home."

Love this article, because it applies to the workforce too. My Digital tools class went over a few of these resources that many do know exist for us to use. I will be using this articles to explore other tools to use!

All analyzed economies have copyright limitations and exceptions frameworks to allow certain unlicensed uses of copyrighted materials, e.g. for personal use, review, criticism, parody, educational purposes, etc. To ensure that the legitimate interests of rights holders are respected, laws typically include limitations restricting such content from being used for commercial purposes or from interfering in markets for the original work. (Specific cases when copyright exemptions apply are discussed in greater detail in the main body of the paper

Filtering software does not work as intended, students are kept from important content such as examples as blocked sites include the NASA Mars Explorer site (the letters s-e-x are in the url) and sites about cancer (blocked because of the word "breast").

HR Daily provides valuable contributions in reference to older employees who give the rest of us the bad name. Struggling, for some, with technology does not mean everyone struggles however. Data shows that 69 percent of employees over age 45 plan to continue to work past 65. I am one of them, and I am fortunate to have had such a substantial technology base from my first entry into the workplace. Many have not as this article suggests and the obstacles they face are 2 fold. An employer who doesn't want to help them and their own fears of inadequacy as a result.

Baby boomers and the aging employee need encouragement and the incentive to speak up and present all that they have to offer. Older workers feel an uncomfortable sense at most work ventures and yet they are relied upon greatly due to their knowledge and expertise on the history of a work related matter. It needs to be understood that in a era of fast paced advances in technology we all need training and innovative ways to learn. It is not necessary just the older employees that might struggle without such a way of approaching the subject of change.

Can original creations in AR be copyrighted? Since it is a programmer who creates the code that makes an artist's AR work possible, who should own the copyright to the work? The author examines the history of computer copyright to help draw conclusions.

The author explore how artists can protect the copyright of their work in VR, and who has the right to place that art into Virtual Reality worlds. Are the programmers who create the code for the work to appear collaborators with the artists?