MOOCs and

Information

Literacy

Sheila Webber

Information School,

University of Sheffield

Workshop at KISK, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, November 2014

MOOC

• Massive i.e many learners (often, thousands)

• Open i.e. (freely) available to anyone (although

many MOOCs only accessible to those who

register)

• Online

• Course i.e. some aim and structure to the learning

Sheila Webber, 2014

Me & MOOCs

• Futurelearn Play MOOC was first time as Educator https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/play

• Dipped into other MOOCs as learner

• I am in the Futurelearn Academic Network (focused on MOOC research)

• One of my Masters students has done a study of a Futurelearn MOOC (learning analytics and interviews with the educator & designer)

• Two of my students interviewed the MOOC coordinator & the educator for the Dentistry MOOC about information literacy in the MOOC

• Some contact with the Futurelearn librarians group Sheila Webber, 2014

Futurelearn

• https://www.futurelearn.com/

• Started as MOOC partnership for UK universities,

now have some partners from other countries

• Developed its own learning platform

• Started offering courses in 2013

• A private company wholly owned by the Open

University (UK university set up for distance learning

in 1969)

Sheila Webber, 2014

MOOC characteristics

• Strong marketing/ showcase element

• Profile of early adopting educators different from some other types of e-learning early adopters? (e.g. higher profile?)

• (Potentially) more diverse learners

• Most learners external to the institution

• Not yet integrated as normal part of educators’ & universities’ teaching

• Different platform from usual VLE

• Learners not necessarily aiming to complete but still want to enjoy experience they have

“We want people to think about Web Science and think about doing a degree in Web Science” Professor Dame Wendy Hall, trailer for University of Southampton’s Futurelearn Web Science MOOC

Sheila Webber, 2014

“Valerie Hill* ... says one of the biggest draws for the

courses is that she gets to decide what she wants to

learn and how much. ‘With the rise in opportunities for

user-generated content (Web 2.0) online, individuals

are embracing the ‘information should be free’

attitude. Constructivist learning and collaboration are

becoming recognized as learning opportunities across

the globe’ ” Scardillli, B. (2013) MOOCs: Classes for the

Masses. Information today, 30 (8).

http://www.infotoday.com/IT/sep13/Scardilli--MOOCs--

Classes-for-the-Masses.shtml *librarian at Texas Woman’s University School of Library and Information

Studies See also http://www.slideshare.net/valibrarian/massive-open-

online-courses-the-future-of-learning-24073209 Sheila Webber, 2014

MOOCs and pedagogy

Continuing factors

• Teachers’ varied approaches to teaching

• Learners’ varied approaches to learning

• Variation between disciplines in teaching, learning, use of information & technology

• Issues specific to non f2f learning

• Variation between university culture, norms and practice

a good deal already known about these issues!

“one item that really hits me [in a research report] is that however different the scaling model is for MOOCs, they are still online courses and have similar success factors” Hill, P. (2013, September 12). SJSU research report confirms MOOCs are online courses. e-literate. http://mfeldstein.com/sjsu-research-report-confirms-moocs-online-courses/

Sheila Webber, 2014

The Teaching-

Learning

Environment

Entwistle et al.

(2004: 3)

These elements still apply with MOOCs, with potentially great diversity in student characteristics and expectations

Sheila Webber, 2014

Types of MOOC

• cMOOC (connectivist/constructivist) vs. xMOOC

(transmissive) – too simplistic?

• Beaven et al. (2014) prefer Lane’s typology

– Network-based: “goal is socially constructed knowledge

developed through conversation” & exploration

– Task-based: “emphasize skill development through the

completion of tasks”

– Content-based: focus on transmitting content, usually

automated assessment, don’t have to be participatory

Sheila Webber, 2014

Different types require/assume different

skills • Beaven et al. (2014) refer to Participatory Literacy

Skills – could break this down into – Information literate with Web 2.0 and social media tools (my

interpretation)

– Understand how to use them to interact with peers to exchange and co-create knowledge

• Different types of MOOC require different levels of participatory literacy skills, motivation and self-determinism

• Similarly Gore (2014: 7) identifies that skills needed for a cMOOC “far outweigh” those needed for an xMOOC

Sheila Webber, 2014

“The results reported in this paper illustrate that MOOCs such

as OT12, which are primarily task-based (Lane, 2012),

assume more self-determination and a higher degree of

participatory literacy than those with a content-based focus.

They also indicate that participants who are not sufficiently

motivated and do not know how to collaborate online as

reflected, for example, in knowing how to trigger feedback and

support from peers might feel let down by the learning

experience” (Beaven at al., 2014: 41)

Sheila Webber, 2014

Futurelearn Play MOOC type?

• I would say it is task-based (and the other Futurelearn MOOCs I’ve seen are task-based or content-based)

• I would say that the Futurelearn platform could not be used in a network-based way (on its own) – it does not have the functions

• Before running the MOOC I found this very frustrating

• But possibly it has some positive benefit in making the MOOC more accessible?

• Some thoughts from Mike Sharples, Professor educational technology at the Open University http://www.slideshare.net/sharplem/innovative-pedagogy-at-scale-ectel

Sheila Webber, 2014

Library and Information Professionals and

MOOCs

Sheila Webber, 2014 Sheila Webber, 2014

“the first step towards that end is making the student aware of their

available resources. The next step should be to provide the faculty

member with links to the "tutorials" and "research guides" sections

of their affiliated library's website. .” Wright, F. (2013) What do Librarians Need to Know About

MOOCs? D-Lib Magazine

19 (3/4) http://dlib.org/dlib/march13/wright/03wright.html

Hygiene approach to MOOCs

Sheila Webber, 2014

“Denlinger* and his team decided to offer a course for

the alumni and parents of Wake Forest University

[ZSRx was a 4 week MOOC ] so they could interact

with library staff and fellow patrons while learning

more about the web. ‘Think of this less as a traditional

class with deadlines and boundaries and more as a

starting point for learning and connecting to a larger

community of learners’ ” Scardillli, (2013) MOOCs: Classes for the Masses. Information today, 30 (8).

http://www.infotoday.com/IT/sep13/Scardilli--MOOCs--Classes-for-the-

Masses.shtml

*e-Learning Librarian, Wake Forest University, USA

See also http://www.slideshare.net/denlinkd07/zs-rx-copy

Opportunity spotting approach to MOOCs?

Sheila Webber, 2014

“they [Office of Parent programs] now see the library as a place

where these kinds of courses can take shape .. we have the

expertise to make these courses happen, we know how to find

resources, we know how to pull people together from across

campus and the library has become a kind of platform for online

learning”

“no-one had expected the library to develop a course like this

and I think it helped the people we were trying to reach to

reimagine what the library is used for and what we can provide” Interview with Kyle Denlinger

Bayne, G. (2013, September 16) CNI 2013 Podcast: Information Literacy MOOCs at Wake

Forest University. Coalition for Networked Information.

http://www.educause.edu/blogs/gbayne/cni-2013-podcast-information-literacy-moocs-wake-

forest-university

Sheila Webber, 2014

“Academic librarians can help instructors with MOOC

materials, offer embedded services, and serve as a resource

when students have research questions; public librarians may

help patrons ‘research a topic using resources the library

already provides, or trying to find items via interlibrary loan for

the customer,’ according to Rayl. Public libraries can also be a

place where MOOC participants meet as a group informally or

as part of the course.”

Scardillli (2013)

Sheila Webber, 2014

Other examples

• Contributing to a MOOC “Discover the island of

research” by introducing the “Bay of literature”: also

proposing roles in archiving, cataloguing and

hosting retrieval of the educational materials

(Eisengraber-Pabst, Vogt and Deimann, 2014)

• Embedded librarian in the “Dentistry” MOOC at

Sheffield University (Andrews and Witham, 2014)

Sheila Webber, 2014

Types of literacy/support?

• Information literacy in finding and engaging with in information within the MOOC (course information, embedded information resources etc.)

• Information literacy with resources outside the MOOC; would suggest importance of:

– IL using social media;

– good Google skills;

– good browsing skills;

– ways of selecting, sharing and managing information ethically and effectively

• Information & digital literacies in using applications that enable aspects of the course (e.g. Google hangouts; discussion fora)

• Information & digital literacies in using applications to create/share/apply/present information/media associated with tasks and activities

A MOOC lens on the SCONUL 7 Pillars of Information Literacy?

Sheila Webber, 2014

Selective, deeper engagement

• Demonstrating that you can run a MOOC builds confidence that you are worth collaborating with

• Opportunity spotting educators who have a more collaborative, and constructivist or connectivist approach to teaching

• Collaboration vs. cooperation

• Could argue also supports “showcase” element: demonstrating quality of the student experience

• Using and evaluating a range of channels and tools to communicate with learners, educators and librarians

• Decisions about what appropriate for central hub, what for local?

with some development of information literacy, within and outside the MOOC, designed into the course

Sheila Webber, 2014

Issues identfied by librarians

• Managing expectations of MOOC learners (who

may expect access to academic library services)

• Extent to which and how you support and develop

information literacy

• Accessibility issues (different first languages,

educational/literacy levels, different timezones,

disabilities etc.)

• A support role, consultancy role, or a teaching role?

Sheila Webber, 2014

Sheila Webber

s.webber@sheffield.ac.uk

http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/

http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber

Twitter: @sheilayoshikawa

Title picture by Sheila Webber, taken in Second Life, using one of the statements in the Manifesto for Teaching Online: http://onlineteachingmanifesto.wordpress.com/

References

• Andrews, P. and Witham, B. (2014) Attitides and practice of educators and developers of MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses) to informatoion literacy of MOOC learners. Unpublished essay, University of Sheffield Information School.

• Beaven, T. et al. (2014). MOOCs: striking the right balance between facilitation and self-determination. MERLOTJournal of online learning and teaching, 10 (1), 31-43.

• Eisengraber-Pabst, D., Vogt, S. and Deimann, M. (2014). The academic library: a hidden stakeholder: in the age of MOOCs. Paper presented at World Library and Information Conference (IFLA) 2014 Lyon. http://library.ifla.org/905/

• Entwistle, N., Nisbet, J. and Bromage, A. (2004). Teaching-learning environments and student learning in electronic engineering: paper presented at Third Workshop of the European Network on Powerful Learning Environments, in Brugge, September 30 – October 2, 2004. http://www.ed.ac.uk/etl/docs/Brugge2004.pdf

• Gore, H. (2014). Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and their impact on academic library services: exploring the issues and challenges. New review of academic librarianship, 20 (1), 4-28.

Sheila Webber, 2014