Open Sesame: Strategies for Promoting Open Educational Resources (OERs) for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

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Description

In mid-March 2013, the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, hosted a two-day conference titled MOOCs and Libraries: Massive Opportunity or Overwhelming Challenge? Compared to discussion of copyright and licensing negotiations and fair use of proprietary content, consideration of Open Educational Resources and their use in MOOCs, however, was not as extensive and implementation strategies were not discussed in detail. To become more engaged in Massive Open Online Courses and Open Educational Resources, librarians should become more knowledgeable about each, promote them within their communities, and maintain current awareness of ongoing developments.

Librarians can begin to become more knowledgeable about OERs and MOOCs by reading major reviews and white papers; explore the offerings of respective providers; and attend relevant conferences, seminars, and webinars, well as. To remain informed, they should join, read, and subscribe to appropriate blogs, electronic discussion lists, and social networks. To promote each within their communities, they should prepare appropriate guides, and engage in relevant research and scholarship.

While Open Educational Resources are among the most well-known of Open Resources, there are others that should also be investigated and considered for integration within the MOOC environment, namely institutional and subject repositories, Open Data sources, Open Access dissertations and theses, Open Access journals and monographs, and Open Textbooks.

In this presentation, we will profile major resources for developing and maintaining knowledge of OERs, MOOCs, and other Open Environments, and discuss a variety of strategies for promoting each.

Gerry McKiernan currently has primary responsibilities for Collection Development, Instruction, and Reference and Research Services in Chemical and Biological Engineering; Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering; Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering; Mechanical Engineering, as well as Alternative Energy and the Environment Sciences with the Library of Iowa State University, where he has been employed since April 1987.

Prior to joining ISU, Gerry served as the Museum Librarian at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, and as an Assistant Librarian with the Library of the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York, his hometown. He received his Master of Science degree in Library Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign in 1975, and his undergraduate degree in Anthropology from Lehman College of the City University of New York, The Bronx.

Gerry maintains several blogs, most notably MOOCs and Libraries that “is devoted to documenting librarian and library involvement in Massive Open Online Courses” [http://moocsandlibraries.blogspot.com/]; Alt-Ed that “devoted to documenting significant initiatives relating to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), digital badges, and similar alternative educational projects” [http://alternative-educate.blogspot.com/]; and Open Librarian that “ seeks to document efforts to identify, organize, and promote a variety of general and specific Open Resources as a corpus” [http://open-resources-librarian.blogspot.com/], among several others [http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490].

 
Oct 25th, 1:00 PM Oct 1st, 2:00 PM

Open Sesame: Strategies for Promoting Open Educational Resources (OERs) for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

King Library 225/229

In mid-March 2013, the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, hosted a two-day conference titled MOOCs and Libraries: Massive Opportunity or Overwhelming Challenge? Compared to discussion of copyright and licensing negotiations and fair use of proprietary content, consideration of Open Educational Resources and their use in MOOCs, however, was not as extensive and implementation strategies were not discussed in detail. To become more engaged in Massive Open Online Courses and Open Educational Resources, librarians should become more knowledgeable about each, promote them within their communities, and maintain current awareness of ongoing developments.

Librarians can begin to become more knowledgeable about OERs and MOOCs by reading major reviews and white papers; explore the offerings of respective providers; and attend relevant conferences, seminars, and webinars, well as. To remain informed, they should join, read, and subscribe to appropriate blogs, electronic discussion lists, and social networks. To promote each within their communities, they should prepare appropriate guides, and engage in relevant research and scholarship.

While Open Educational Resources are among the most well-known of Open Resources, there are others that should also be investigated and considered for integration within the MOOC environment, namely institutional and subject repositories, Open Data sources, Open Access dissertations and theses, Open Access journals and monographs, and Open Textbooks.

In this presentation, we will profile major resources for developing and maintaining knowledge of OERs, MOOCs, and other Open Environments, and discuss a variety of strategies for promoting each.

Gerry McKiernan currently has primary responsibilities for Collection Development, Instruction, and Reference and Research Services in Chemical and Biological Engineering; Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering; Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering; Mechanical Engineering, as well as Alternative Energy and the Environment Sciences with the Library of Iowa State University, where he has been employed since April 1987.

Prior to joining ISU, Gerry served as the Museum Librarian at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, and as an Assistant Librarian with the Library of the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York, his hometown. He received his Master of Science degree in Library Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign in 1975, and his undergraduate degree in Anthropology from Lehman College of the City University of New York, The Bronx.

Gerry maintains several blogs, most notably MOOCs and Libraries that “is devoted to documenting librarian and library involvement in Massive Open Online Courses” [http://moocsandlibraries.blogspot.com/]; Alt-Ed that “devoted to documenting significant initiatives relating to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), digital badges, and similar alternative educational projects” [http://alternative-educate.blogspot.com/]; and Open Librarian that “ seeks to document efforts to identify, organize, and promote a variety of general and specific Open Resources as a corpus” [http://open-resources-librarian.blogspot.com/], among several others [http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490].