From the renowned futurist, a look at how current trends will transform American higher education over the next twenty years. 2020 Most Significant Futures Work Award Winner, Association of Professional Futurists The outlook for the future of colleges and universities is uncertain. Financial stresses, changing student populations, and rapidly developing technologies all pose significant challenges to the nation's colleges and universities. In Academia Next, futurist and higher education expert Bryan Alexander addresses these evolving trends to better understand higher education's next generation. Alexander first examines current economic, demographic, political, international, and policy developments as they relate to higher education. He also explores internal transformations within postsecondary institutions, including those related to enrollment, access, academic labor, alternative certification, sexual assault, and the changing library, paying particularly close attention to technological changes. Alexander then looks beyond these trends to offer a series of distinct scenarios and practical responses for institutions to consider when combating shrinking enrollments, reduced public support, and the proliferation of technological options. Arguing that the forces he highlights are not speculative but are already in play, Alexander draws on a rich, extensive, and socially engaged body of research to best determine their likeliest outcomes. It is only by taking these trends seriously, he writes, that colleges and universities can improve their chances of survival and growth. An unusually multifaceted approach to American higher education that views institutions as complex organisms, Academia Next offers a fresh perspective on the emerging colleges and universities of today and tomorrow.

Scientists agree that we are on the precipice of a global climate crisis. How will it transform colleges and universities? In 2019, intense fires in the San Francisco Bay Area closed universities and drove afflicted people to shelter at other campuses. At the same time, extraordinary fires ravaged eastern Australia. Several universities responded by promising material and research support to damaged businesses while also hosting refugees and emergency response teams in student residence halls. This was an echo of the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina on Tulane University in 2005. In Universities on Fire, futurist Bryan Alexander explores higher education during an age of unfolding climate crisis. Powered by real-world examples and the latest research, Alexander assesses practical responses and strategies by surveying contemporary programs and academic climate research from around the world. He establishes a model of how academic institutions may respond and offers practical pathways forward for higher education. How will the two main purposes of education--teaching and research--change as the world heats up? Alexander positions colleges and universities in the broader social world, from town-gown relationships to connections between how campuses and civilization as a whole respond to this epochal threat. Current studies of climate change trace the likely implications across a range of domains, from agriculture to policy, urban design, technology, culture, and human psychology. However, few books have predicted or studied the effects of the climate crisis on colleges and universities. By connecting climate research to a deep, futures-informed analysis of academia, Universities on Fire explores how climate change will fundamentally reshape higher education.

Newly revised and updated, this is the essential guide to state-of-the-art digital storytelling for audiences, creators, and teachers. Written for everyone interested in the communication potential of digital media, including educators, marketers, communication professionals, and community activists, this is the ultimate guide to harnessing technology for storytelling. No other book covers the digital storytelling movement as thoroughly as this updated second edition of a popular work, nor does any incorporate as many technologies, from video to augmented reality, mobile devices to virtual reality. The book combines history, analysis, and practical guidance about digital storytelling. It begins with a history that encompasses an exploration of storytelling itself, as well as a description of narratives using digital tools from the 1980s through 2000. From there, the author dives into modern digital storytelling, offering analysis and guidance regarding the use of digital video, podcasting, social media, gaming, mobile devices, and virtual and augmented reality. The work concludes with practical advice about how to create and share digital stories using the most current tools so even the new would-be storyteller can create their first digital narrative. Of course, the second edition is updated to take into account the many ways the field has advanced since the original book appeared. With many new examples of digital stories, this edition's evidence base is current and fresh. New or transformed technologies are also addressed, including virtual reality; mobile devices that have become mainstream tools for creating, sharing, and experiencing digital stories; and the wide variety of new storytelling apps and services. Documents how digital storytelling has become an international movement, with vibrant communities of practice, ever-developing ideas, and growing appeal Captures the full depth and breadth of the history and present of digital storytelling, while also offering practical tips for getting started making stories Incorporates a plethora of digital technologies, from video to augmented reality, and mobile devices to virtual reality Points out that digital storytelling has a variety of uses and encompasses a growing diversity of technologies, even as it becomes ever more accessible to everyday creators

This multidisciplinary volume highlights the transformed nature of the relationship between higher education and society in the 21st century. In particular, it argues that the development of the global university, especially in the non-western world, has transformed the traditional understanding of the relationship between higher education and society. This has important implications for the relations of state, as education has not only become an object of national development policy but for many states an important export. The history of the university reflects the decisive social transformations which have given definition and identity to both new nations and modern societies. In the post-war period, universities in the industrialized world underwent a radical shift. The mass expansion of higher education ensured that universities were no longer centers designed to train youth to assume the leadership positions held by previous generations. Instead universities were to become centers where job skills could be imparted and knowledge produced, refined and used in the newly emerging Cold War economies, and where students could develop the skills necessary for employment in a changing world. Rather than focusing on the refinement of future leaders, the task of the university became linked to the development of economically exploitable technical knowledge. A shift of comparable magnitude is now ongoing in the nature of higher education itself. Globalization has led to the growth of knowledge communities around the world, mirroring the rise of centers for global finance in previous decades. In the Middle East and Asia the demands of the knowledge-based economy have led to the opening of new indigenous universities and branch campuses and partnerships with established European and North American universities. Education City in Qatar, for instance, has received or been pledged more than 200 billion dollars since its inception. The growth of new indigenous universities has altered the traditional role of the university further, increasing the emphasis on courses which are close to the marketplace. These new partnerships have contributed to the creation of what is now referred to as the global university.

Oxford Reading Tree inFact is a non-fiction series that aims to engage children in reading for pleasure as powerfully as fiction does. The variety of topics means there are books to interest every child in this compelling series. The series is written by top children's authors and subject experts. The books are carefully levelled, making it easy to match every child to the right book. This pack contains six books, one of each of Scratch's Bad Reputations, Our Siberian Journey, Tasty Travels, Top Ten Worst Jobs in History, Outdoor Art, and Real Heroes.

Oxford Reading Tree inFact is a non-fiction series that aims to engage children in reading for pleasure as powerfully as fiction does. The variety of topics means there are books to interest every child in this compelling series. The series is written by top children's authors and subject experts. The books are carefully levelled, making it easy to match every child to the right book. This pack contains 36 books, six of each of Scratch's Bad Reputations, Our Siberian Journey, Tasty Travels, Top Ten Worst Jobs in History, Outdoor Art, and Real Heroes.

In Our Siberian Journey, join an Arctic photographer on his long trek across the ice and snow with a herd of reindeer. Find out what he eats, wears and how he travels. Oxford Reading Tree inFact is a non-fiction series that aims to engage children in reading for pleasure as powerfully as fiction does. The variety of topics means there are books to interest every child in this compelling series. The series is written by top children's authors and subject experts. The books are carefully levelled, making it easy to match every child to the right book.

In lands of magic and steam power, two nations, the Order and the Eria Kingdom, are engaged in a bitter century old conflict with not only each other, but also the vicious race of creatures known as the daeryc. With the exception of scattered daeryc attacks, the people have known an uneasy peace for a short time, but a storm is looming on the horizon that may tear that apart. Ciel is an Exorcist; a powerful, mistrusted warrior that fights with spiritually imbued weapons. Using the power granted by a mystical brand given by the Order, she channels lightning into her mechanical arm to defeat the daeryc monsters. She has become comfortable in her duty of protecting the followers of the Order, but everything is about to change. The Exorcists are on the verge of extinction, and the daeryc are gaining in power. When Ciel discovers a hidden plot that makes enemies of friends, she must take desperate actions to defend what she believes in, even if that means she has to swallow her pride and team up with the most unlikely of allies.