New Books in Education

What does it mean to learn when algorithms increasingly shape how knowledge is produced, organized, and interpreted? Editors Elizabeth de Freitas, Matthew X. Curinga, and Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román join Shreya Urvashi to talk about their book Learning Under Algorithmic Conditions (U Minnesota Press, 2026), a collection that examines how artificial intelligence and computational systems are changing education, cognition, and ideas of human intelligence. The editors discuss the complexities of algorithm, training data as curriculum, AI bias, and the concept of more-than-human learning. They also explore the relationship between contemporary technologies and colonial forms of reason, the limits of treating bias as a purely technical problem, and what happens to human agency as learning becomes increasingly entangled with algorithmic systems.

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How Girls Achieve points out a simple and overlooked truth: most schools never had girls in mind to begin with. That is why the world needs what Dr. Sally Nuamah calls “feminist schools,” deliberately designed to provide girls with achievement-oriented identities. And she shows how these schools would help all students, regardless of their gender.
Educated women raise healthier families, build stronger communities, and generate economic opportunities for themselves and their children. Yet millions of disadvantaged girls never make it to school—and too many others drop out or fail. Upending decades of advice and billions of dollars in aid, Dr, Nuamah argues that this happens because so many challenges girls confront—from sexual abuse to unequal access to materials and opportunities—go unaddressed. But it isn’t enough just to go to school. What you learn there has to prepare you for the world where you’ll put that knowledge to work.
Dr. Nuamah reveals that developing resilience is not a gender-neutral undertaking. Preaching grit doesn’t help girls; it actively harms them. Drawing on her deep immersion in classrooms in the United States, Ghana, and South Africa, Nuamah calls for a new approach: creating feminist schools that will actively teach girls how and when to challenge society’s norms, and allow them to carve out their own paths to success.
Guest: Dr. Sally A. Nuamah is an associate professor of Urban Politics in Human Development, Social Policy and Political Science (by courtesy) at Northwestern University. She has received numerous awards; began the TWII Foundation to provide funding for girls striving to be first in their families to go to college; and was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University and a Women and Public Policy fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Host is: Dr. Christina Gessler is the producer of the both Academic Life podcast and the show’s weekly newsletter. She is a writing coach and developmental editor for academics.
Listeners may be interested in:
Teacher By Teacher
Doing the Work of Equity Leadership for Justice and Systems Change
Black Girls and How We Fail Them
Leading from the Margins
How We Show Up
How Schools Make Race
Black Woman On Board
Remembering Lucille
Can I Say That?
Teaching About Race And Racism
Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! Please join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 300+ Academic Life episodes? Find them here. And thank you for listening!
This episode was originally published Nov 6, 2020

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In this episode of the Language on the Move Podcast, Brynn Quick chats with Professor Dr. Natalia Filatkina, Dr. Kerstin Roth and Research Associate Miriam Hinterholzer. All three work at the University of Hamburg in Germany on a long-term research project, called FSL Digital, that investigates language history, language attitudes and everyday communication in the context of multilingualism in early modern Europe.
As part of this project, today’s guests annotate and analyse multilingual foreign language textbooks from the 15th to 17th centuries.
Today’s guests discuss these textbooks, the research project, and what historical foreign language manuals can tell us about language attitudes and expectations of foreign language learning.
For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here.

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Library Technical Services: Future Forward (Bloomsbury, 2025) edited by Mary Beth Weber and Melissa De Fino looks at the future of technical services post-pandemic and at the brink of technological disruptions through a diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility lens. Libraries have undergone a tremendous transformation that has been driven by multiple factors that include technological developments, and societal impacts such as declining college enrollment and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has introduced changes to how technical services professionals work and provide services. Whereas the library is often perceived by users as a building to house print books and journals, the reality is that the library encompasses both physical and virtual spaces. For many users, the library's online catalog and website are their first (and perhaps only) experience with the library. Our user community is global, and technical services work has evolved to serve users with a growing array of electronic resources, including e-books, databases, and e-journals. These resources differ from their print counterparts in that they cost more, require licenses and contracts that must continually need to be renegotiated and renewed, must comply with accessibility standards, and require different skill sets to catalog. The virtual spaces and services libraries provide are built on the foundation provided by technical services librarians. Assessment is an important, yet often overlooked, aspect of technical services work, and is addressed in this book. It is critical for collection development and acquisition of electronic resources. It is also an important component of the work of electronic resources librarians, who monitor usage and trends. Developing an appropriate skill set for technical services work is essential for success. This includes knowing the standards for the work performed, awareness of emerging standards, and remaining relevant.
Guests: Mary Beth Weber is the inaugural Coordinator for Training and Mentorship for Rutgers University Libraries. In this capacity, she serves as an advisor to the Faculty Mentoring Program, collaborates with colleagues to identify, develop, and implement a continuous program of enrichment activities to meet the needs of the Libraries' personnel. She previously served as the Head of Central Technical Services for 2008-2025, and her new role is the result of a large-scale reorganization undertaken by Rutgers University Libraries. Weber has had a long career in technical services, overseeing both resource description and acquisitions, and collaborating with collection development librarians. She representedRutgers on the Big Ten Academic Alliance’s Heads of Cataloging Committee from 2014-2025. Other offices she has held include serving as editor-in-chief for Library Resources and Technical Services, one of ALA Core’s official journals, for nine years. In addition to three books she has published with Bloomsbury, she co-authored Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management, 5th edition, with Peggy Johnson. She may be contacted via her LinkedIn profile. She earned her MLS from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and earned my BA from Michigan State University, where I had a double major of English and Art History.
Melissa De Fino is Team Lead for Cataloging and Metadata Services and Metadata Librarian for Special Collections and Audiovisual Materials at Rutgers University Libraries. She has worked at Rutgers for more than 20 years, beginning her career there as a Special Collections Cataloger. Her research focuses on the evolution of technical services librarianship. Melissa is the co-author, with Mary Beth, of Virtual Technical Services: A Handbook, has published several peer-reviewed articles, and served for five years as editor of the “Tech Services Online” column in Technical Services Quarterly. She holds a Master of Library and Information Science and an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Rutgers University, as well as a B.A. in English from Fordham University.
Host: Dr. Michael LaMagna is a Professor of Library Services at Delaware County Community College.

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Stop waiting for permission to lead!

Most of us have suffered under badly behaved managers, enduring micromanagement, navigating toxic "mindfields," and watching great ideas die at the bottlenecks of the traditional chain of command.

We’ve been sold a lie: that leadership is a title, a rank, or a corner office. Clinging to this outdated assumption limits your potential and leaves your team trapped in a cycle of cynicism and burnout.

What if leadership isn’t a position you attain but a set of practices you choose?

In the fully revised second edition of What the Heck Is Leadership?, Gary A. DePaul, PhD, dismantles the top-down myths that hold organizations back. He clarifies the crucial distinction between management (a neutral tool for coordinating tasks) and leadership (the intentional practice of helping others mature mentally and morally). You don’t need formal authority to transform your workplace. You just need the right principles and a new way of being.

This isn't a book of abstract theories; it’s a practical, creative guide for the 21st-century workplace. Inside, you’ll discover how to:
Break the Traps of Traditional Leadership: Stop equating power with leadership and learn why giving up control actually strengthens your team.
Neutralize Workplace Toxicity: Identify and navigate adult bullying, pervasive cynicism, and high-conflict behaviors that quietly erode psychological safety.
Harness the Compound Effect: Use small, incremental daily actions to build the invisible momentum that sustainably transforms your culture over time.
Build True Community: Shift from isolated groups to collaborative networks united by a shared purpose.

Leadership isn't something you are; it's something you do. It's about being a lighthouse anchored in principles, guiding others through the storm and empowering others to perform at their best.
Gary A. DePaul PhD is an author, educator, consultant, and speaker whose work explores a deceptively simple question: What helps people do their best work? Drawing on decades of experience in performance improvement, learning and development, human resources, consulting, and university teaching, he helps individuals and organizations turn leadership ideas into everyday practices.
Gary believes leadership has been needlessly complicated and too often associated with titles and positions of authority. Instead, he views leadership as a set of intentional practices that anyone can use to help others grow, strengthen relationships, and improve the workplace.
You can follow his work or connect with him via LinkedIn or contact him at garydepaul@gmail.com.


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