Coming in March: OCLC Research and U. Penn Libraries Will Host a “MOOCs and Libraries” Event in Philadelphia
“MOOCs and Libraries: Massive Opportunity or Overwhelming Challenge?” will be on March 18-19 in Philadelphia.
Some Details and Registration Info
Please join OCLC Research and the University of Pennsylvania Libraries for thoughtful and provocative presentations about how libraries are already getting involved with MOOCs. Whether your institution is already on board or on the fence, you’ll learn from the pioneers how library content and services can be represented in these new learning environments, and about opportunities for new discussions with partners in supporting learning on campus. Potential themes include:
- Copyright, licensing, open access
- As courses are being offered online to a diverse and geographically distributed audience, what are the challenges for licensing and clearing copyright for materials used in courses? Are there opportunities for advancing the conversation on open access with faculty
- Production & pedagogy
- How libraries and academic support offices contribute to MOOC-related course production options—a view on how technology helps and hinders, and how pedagogy may need to shift in a new environment. What are we learning about teaching, what works, and what doesn’t
- Embedded librarians: what can happen when librarians go behind the lines in a MOOC?
- As we learn about new platforms and new modes of working, librarians are going into the trenches to see for themselves how MOOCs work. How do library resources and research skills fit into this new and evolving picture? What can we learn from the data we can mine from these platforms?
- Who are the masses? A view of the audience
MOOCs are drawing thousands and even hundreds of thousands of attendees. What do we know about these learners? What might we discover? How might we change as a result?
Additional Info and a Link to Registration Page
See Also: CNI’s Clifford Lynch Discusses MOOCs, Mobility, and Changing Scholarly Practice (January 3, 2013)
See Also: Briefing Paper: “Is this Time Different? Questions for MOOCs and Online Learning Beyond 2012″ (November 11, 2012)
Filed under: Data Files, Journal Articles, Libraries, News, Open Access

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.