UCLA

MOOCs—an online successor to older forms of distance education, such as correspondence courses, radio for education, and educational television—entered the higher education scene around 2011-2012 with the founding of Coursera, Udacity, and EdX. Although a literature review reveals some discussion of how libraries can support MOOC professors, there has been very little discussion of how libraries can support MOOC students. However, library support for MOOCs has become very important now that two new trends are forcing MOOC students to take their coursework more seriously: MOOCs for high school students and MOOCs for credit, both of which are partially driven by the rising cost of college tuition. Before academic libraries can provide research assistance or materials to MOOC students, they will need to address institutional, distance-based, legal, and resource barriers.