In this week's IT news, tech experts in higher ed explain why colleges and universities need to stop ceding their independence in the name of tech and innovation--as well as how to do it. Also, a new framework is seeking to make higher ed metrics from institutions more transparent for student benefit; and a disruptive pay-as-you-go platform with hundreds of video APIs will enable tech and SaaS providers, developers and integrators to build and launch custom video products.

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