The book deals with the digital turn in higher education: One aim of this book is to address the challenge by providing a multi-disciplinary, international perspective on higher education during the digital turn. It presents epistemological, ethical and theoretical approaches, and best practice examples, from universities in different countries using different learning strategies. The book can be understood as an international and interdisciplinary collection providing heuristic strategies for handling the digitalization of higher education in theory and in practice.

The book publishing industry is going through a period of profound and turbulent change brought about in part by the digital revolution. What is the role of the book in an age preoccupied with computers and the internet? How has the book publishing industry been transformed by the economic and technological upheavals of recent years, and how is it likely to change in the future? This is the first major study of the book publishing industry in Britain and the United States for more than two decades. Thompson focuses on academic and higher education publishing and analyses the evolution of these sectors from 1980 to the present. He shows that each sector is characterized by its own distinctive ‘logic’ or dynamic of change, and that by reconstructing this logic we can understand the problems, challenges and opportunities faced by publishing firms today. He also shows that the digital revolution has had, and continues to have, a profound impact on the book publishing business, although the real impact of this revolution has little to do with the ebook scenarios imagined by many commentators. Books in the Digital Age will become a standard work on the publishing industry at the beginning of the 21st century. It will be of great interest to students taking courses in the sociology of culture, media and cultural studies, and publishing. It will also be of great value to professionals in the publishing industry, educators and policy makers, and to anyone interested in books and their future.

Concerning the changing shape of the university, this book sets out the social, historical and philosophical aspects of the current digital transformation of education.

Digital-Age Innovation in Higher Education recounts the creation, development, and growth of an innovation unit within a major university. This single case study follows the development of the EdLab at the Gottesman Libraries of Teachers College, Columbia University, which was charged with developing new services and products at a time when digital technologies were markedly beginning to impact the sector. The major steps taken – recruiting staff in key skill areas, developing projects, collaborating across organizational lines, securing resources, delivering new services, and more – are covered in detail, illustrating the opportunities and challenges presented by innovation mandates in long-established organizations with stable operations and traditional academic values and practices.

Universities for years have been the bright spot in our educational system. Today, these institutions are under siege from multiple constituencies including students, parents, legislators, government officials and their own faculties. Education has historically been a way for students to improve their lives and fortunes. However, the rising costs of college are a barrier to access for many students, reducing their chances for upward mobility.Is technology the solution, or is it just another costly problem for universities? The purpose of this book is to explore how new technology has the potential to transform higher education. However, this same technology also has the potential to disrupt universities. Much depends on how administrators, faculty and students apply technologically enhanced learning.Technology and the Disruption of Higher Education presents details on MOOCs, blended, flipped and online classes and their role in transforming higher education based on the author's experiences teaching all of these types of courses. These technology-enabled approaches to teaching and learning offer tremendous opportunities to schools, but they also threaten the traditional university. The book identifies some of these threats and opportunities and offers suggested strategies to take advantage of the technology.Is this technology enough to save the university system? While new ways of teaching and learning are exciting, they are only part of the puzzle. Radical change beyond what happens in the classroom is needed if our higher education system is to continue to flourish and some of these ideas are discussed in the last chapter of the book. The book is a call to action for educators to realize that the technology is both transformational and disruptive, and that some universities are going to fail in the next 15 years.

Why our current system of higher education is financially and morally unsustainable and how to address the crisis with the creative implementation of digital technologies. For too long, our system of higher education has been defined by scarcity: scarcity in enrollment, scarcity in instruction, and scarcity in credentials. In addition to failing students professionally, this system has exacerbated social injustice and socioeconomic stratification across the globe. In The Abundant University, Michael D. Smith argues that the only way to create a financially and morally sustainable higher education system is by embracing digital technologies for enrolling, instructing, and credentialing students—the same technologies that we have seen create abundance in access to resources in industry after industry. The Abundant University explains how we got our current system, why it’s such an expensive, inefficient mess, and how a system based on exclusivity cannot foster inclusivity. Smith challenges the resistance to digital technologies that we have already seen among numerous institutions, citing the examples of faculty resistance toward digital learning platforms. While acknowledging the understandable self-preservation instinct of our current system of residential education, Smith makes a case for how technology can engender greater educational opportunity and create changes that will benefit students, employers, and society as a whole.

The European higher education sector is moving online, but to what extent? Are the digital disruptions seen in other sectors of relevance for both academics and management in higher education? How far are we from fully seizing the opportunities that an online transition could offer? This insightful book presents a broad perspective on existing academic practices, and discusses how and where the move online has been successful, and the lessons that can be learned.