As MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) continue to gain in popularity, Penn State’s University Libraries have taken a proactive stance to provide research guides that will assist the teachers helping and the many students enrolled in the wide variety of classes.

These free MOOCS typically include students who are not registered Penn State students, and thus may not use the Libraries’ numerous licensed online databases or course reserve content restricted to Penn State credit classes.

Lisa German, associate dean for Collections Information and Access Services, notes, “As Penn State continues to develop MOOCs, the University Libraries are pleased to be of assistance to all learners.”

To support all MOOC students who need resources, the Libraries have launched a new research guide, MOOCs for Learners. The approach and content of this guide is targeted to both experienced and novice students and to other learners navigating the world of MOOCs. This guide complements the MOOCs for Educators guide, targeted to faculty who may be seeking resources they can link to, or use, in their MOOC as alternatives to content from our licensed databases or other copyrighted content for which they are not able to obtain permission to use.

Head of Library Learning Services Loanne Snavely observes, “Our goal as librarians is to connect people to quality information resources and this is one more of the many services that we offer to students, faculty and others.”

Questions, suggestions and comments on the MOOCs for Learners and MOOCs for Educators guides are welcome, please contact Lori Lysiak at lal29@psu.edu or 814-867-4924.