From books to MOOCS: The integration of open educational resources to library services in American spaces in East Asia-Pacific region

Abstract

The changing role of libraries in the digital learning environment paved way to the rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in library services. From traditional to digital and collaborative era, this paper describes how MOOCs offered at the American Spaces, a public diplomacy library of the U.S. Department of State, increased open educational engagement with library users and meet the learning needs of the East Asia-Pacific region.

In conclusion, MOOCs have become a value added library program of American Spaces in the East Asia and the Pacific region. The American Space augments in the learning process of the MOOC participants by accessing the spaces that are equipped with computers and Internet connection and library collection are utilized as an additional resource of the MOOC participants. Second, MOOCs become a regular library program of the American Spaces and engaged the stakeholders (e.g. U.S. Embassy officials and U.S. government alumni) in a 21st century programming and digital engagement other than the traditional approach such as book talks and public lectures. The MOOCs not only increased the foot traffic in American Spaces but also built a sense of community of learners in both physical library and virtual library via social media presence. Lastly, MOOCs in American Spaces have facilitated interaction and bridges the knowledge gap between the MOOC content providers and MOOC users in providing value added information to the East Asia and the Pacific region.