moocs and information literacy
DESCRIPTION
Presentation given by Sheila Webber as part of a workshop for Masters students at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, 27 November 2014.TRANSCRIPT
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
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