MOOCs: Opportunities and Challenges for Libraries

Dr. Sandra Hirsh Professor and Director

WELCOME

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats

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Presenters & Topics

Introduction to MOOCs Sandra Hirsh, San Jose State University School of Information, USA MOOCs for Professional Development Michael Stephens, San Jose State University School of Information USA MOOCs and Library and Information Science Schools Wendy Newman, University of Toronto iSchool, Canada MOOCs and Public Libraries John Szabo, Los Angeles Public Library, USA MOOCs as Access to Information in Developing Countries Loida Garcia-Febo, Information New Wave, USA MOOCs and Open Education Initiatives Jan Holmquist, Guldborgsund Librarires, Nykøbing Falster, Denmark

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What is a MOOC?

“A course of study made available over the Internet without charge to a very large number of people.”

(Oxford Dictionaries, 2013)

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xMOOCs – •  small manageable chunks of information •  frequently delivered in video lecture style

formats •  supported by multiple-choice assessments

used to provide feedback on performance cMOOCs – •  learner-centered •  collaborative - based on learning through

relationships and connections.

Types of MOOCs

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Emergence of the MOOC

2011 •  Stanford University opened two of their artificial

intelligence courses to the public over the Internet •  100,000 people signed up

2012

•  “The year of the MOOC" •  Higher education formed three major MOOC

platform and distribution companies — Udacity, Coursera, and edX

•  Top U.S. universities begin offering MOOCs

2014 •  More than 800 open online courses available, •  Faculty and course content from more than 200 of

the best-known universities in the world •  Many millions of students have enrolled

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“MOOCs have exploded in [a] short time, redefining who can enroll in college courses, as well as where, when and even why people take online classes.”

Alan Finder (2013)

MOOC Objectives

(Allen & Seaman, 2014, p. 25)

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MOOC Objectives – Education

MOOCs are appropriate for: •  continuing education •  non-degree programs •  technical training

Biggest value of MOOCs: •  keep up with new developments in education •  raise visibility of the school •  improve quality of residential teaching

Biggest drawback of MOOCs •  lack of consistent review and grading system •  high cost of development and implementation •  high time commitment

(Afshar, 2013)

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Why Participate in a MOOC?

•  Professional Development

•  Convenient and Accessible

•  College Readiness

•  Career Exploration

•  Self-blending learning

•  Self-paced learning (advantage for disabled students)

•  Bolstering college and job applications

•  Developing connected learning competencies

MOOCs and Libraries

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MOOCs and Libraries: Opportunities and Challenges

Opportunities •  Shape the conversation about changes in higher

education •  provide the Internet connection and resource

access that students need to succeed in a MOOC. (Chant, 2013)

•  Providing resources to MOOC students •  Ensure people have the chance to

participate(Chant) Challenges •  Mitigating copyright risk •  Establishing grounds for network access •  New licensing models (opening up resources to a

greater audience)

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“Getting MOOCs to work for people who just need to hone their skills for their own use, whether it is repairing a car or programming in Python, is surely in line with library missions. Libraries may also be able to take lessons from MOOC-style learning to drive social engagement for existing programs.”

(Chant, 2013)

International Impact of MOOCs

Anyone… Anywhere… Anytime…

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Thank you for attending!

Dr. Sandy Hirsh, Professor and Director sandy.hirsh@sjsu.edu Facebook: facebook.com/sjsuischool Twitter: twitter.com/sjsuischool Pinterest: pinterest.com/sjsuischool http://ischool.sjsu.edu/