MOOCs and libraries European Conference

Last month I mentioned the MOOCS and libraries conference organized in March by OCLC Research.

Next month, July 12, the UK Open University is hosting the European version of this conference in London.

More information is available at the UK OU website.

MOOCs and libraries

This month’s Library Journal has a very interesting article - Massive Open Opportunity: Supporting MOOCs in Public and Academic Libraries

The article extensively explores the opportunities that are presented by MOOCs and is well worth a read.

Much of the inspiration for the article seems to have come from an OCLC event that took place on March 18 - MOOCs and Libraries: Massive Opportunity or Overwhelming Challenge?

The videos of the talks are available at OCLC's YouTube Channel.

Below is the video of the summary and next steps discussion from the event.

ARL white paper on research libraries and MOOCs

ARL has released a 15 page white paper on “Massive Open Online Courses: Legal and Policy Issues for Research Libraries”

The executive summary is rather concise:

“Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) raise significant legal and policy questions forresearch libraries, which are often asked to support the development of MOOC courses.These questions involve information policy concerns that are central to researchlibraries, including the proper application of fair use, the transition to open access as thedefault mode of scholarly publishing, and the provision of equal access to learningmaterials for students with and without disabilities. Where possible, research librariesshould engage in conversations around MOOCs and promote their core values. Bydoing so, they will also promote the continuing vitality of libraries as partners in theeducational mission.”

Hopefully, all these legal issues will not put libraries in the role of road block in the development of MOOCs.

Also, I think it would be interesting to consider how MOOCs could play a role in further education for library staff. Especially so called cMOOCs seem highly fit for developing staff skills in fast changing environments. But then the ARL white paper only seems to know about xMOOCs.