Open ETDs are essential for the future of Graduate Education: two recently published views | Free US ETDs (FUSE)

"This week, two new papers situate openness of ETDs as an essential component of effective graduate education in the 21st century. Written entirely independently, these two works in combination articulate the power and promise of the ETD experience as an opportunity to empower the newest generation of scholars to make meaningful and impactful contributions to their disciplines and to society as a whole. By educating graduate students about the myriad authorship and dissemination choices available in the digital age, and by honoring student’s choices once they are so informed, the true purpose of graduate education can be transformed and fulfilled. Comments and critiques of these papers are welcome here on the Free US ETDs blog. Please share your thoughts! ... In 'Opening the Dissertation: Overcoming Cultural Calcification and Agoraphobia', Carnegie Mellon scholar Denise Troll Covey links the struggle to make dissertation research open with the crisis in doctoral education ... In the December 2013 issue of College & Research Libraries News, Texas A&M associate professor Gail Clement (yes, yours truly) addresses but one dimension of Troll Covey’s 'openness' principle for graduate works. In 'American ETD dissemination in the age of Open Access: ProQuest, NoQuest, or Allowing Student Choice', the author argues for student choice in disseminating the hard won fruits of their graduate education [FN1] ..."