SWOT analysis of MOOCs in library and information science domain

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-08-2018-0048
Date05 November 2018
Pages11-14
Published date05 November 2018
AuthorAnna Kaushik
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Library & information services
SWOT analysis of MOOCs in library and
information science domain
Anna Kaushik
Introduction
This paper aims to conduct a SWOT
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
threats) analysis of massive open online
courses (MOOCs) in library and
information science in order to identify
and understand different insights and
best practices.
In the current scenario of open online
learning, MOOCs pedagogy emerged as
a very hot topic all around the world.
Although the origin of MOOCs can be
traced back to 2008, adequate
popularity in the online learning sphere
began a few years later, in 2012. A
MOOC is an online course built on a
topic through a variety of resources
available in the public domain with the
aim to engage a large number of the
participants, often with assessment and
accreditation provisions.
Currently, MOOCs have impact in
all disciplines, including library and
information science. A major focus is
how MOOCs can be implemented,
utilized and supported. To make optimum
use of MOOCs, library and information
science professionals need to know about
their potential. SWOT (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats)
analysis can be an effective and
appropriate instrument. SWOT analysis
was first developed at Stanford Research
Institute in the USA and used for
analysing business data of Fortune 500
companies (Humphrey, 2005). SWOT
analysis can be defined as a framework
which can be used as a tool for strategic
planning and decision-making in
implementing a product, concept, project,
etc. successfully. This paper looks at
SWOT analysis of MOOCs for education
of library and information science
students and professionals.
Kaushik (2018) discusses the
evolution of MOOCs through an online
survey to determine the perceptions of
library and information science
professionals. Those who participated
in this survey were working in academic
libraries and were aware of the use of
MOOCs for many disciplines, but they
noted the lack these tools to develop
competencies and skills in library and
information science. Some prominent
studies (Kennedy, 2014;Kaushik and
Kumar, 2016;Berliyanto and Santoso,
2018) were carried out in library and
information science as well as in other
disciplines on the issues connected to
the characteristics, opportunities and
challenges of MOOCs.
Very few studies were discovered on
the theme of SWOT analysis of MOOC.
In another discipline, Schu
¨tte et al.
(2018) conducted SWOT analysis of
MOOCs in connection to observe
whether MOOCs would be helpful to
improve medical education or not. Jin-
hui (2015) conducted SWOT analysis of
MOOCs in business and measured
MOOCs in economic courses and found
that MOOCs can actually generate
revenue in different ways. Dennen and
Chauhan (2013), through SWOT
analysis, found that reputation was the
one of the main factors to engage in
MOOC activities. Odom (2013)
examined the impact for implementing
MOOCs in the University of Maryland
University College (UMUC) by
conducting SWOT analysis. Lim and
Kim (2014) suggested several
components such as the type of
organization, age of learners, lecture
areas, authority, contract unit, teaching
qualifications and system connection
for designing Korean MOOCs by
conducted a SWOT analysis. As such
no study was found on SWOT analysis
of MOOCs in library and information
science domain.
SWOT analysis of MOOCs
A SWOT analysis of MOOCs was
conducted and is presented in Table I.
Strengths
Buhl and Andreasen (2018) reviewed
the strengths of MOOCs which can be
defined through nine A’s, namely, any
number of participants, any course,
anywhere, anytime, anyone, any
platform, any age, any qualification,
any [...]. The important characteristics
of MOOCs provide great flexibility to
the library and information science
professionals and other learners to
take part in MOOCs and provide a
reliable platform to upgrade their
knowledge on their interested area.
LeCounte and Johnson (2017)
highlighted the characteristics and
benefits of MOOCs in the higher
education setting. From all of these
references, there is clearly a need to
develop the quality of MOOCs in library
and information science domain. For our
professional growth, MOOCs should
focus on demanding topics of users or on
user-centric themes, and the contents of a
MOOC should be well accurate, updated
and leveraged with full and concrete
information. For some, a MOOC is
considered as the substitute or alternative
of formal education. (Huang et al.,2016).
Through their study, they found that
MOOCs were helpful in promoting
information literacy. MOOCs support
both mobile and online learning due to
increasing use of mobile and online
devices as well as continuous increasing
of internet users worldwide.
Weaknesses
Drop rates of learners is one of the
main reasons which can fall into the
category of weakness in the MOOCs
setting, as large number of learners may
participate, but it is unsure whether all
will complete the course. Eriksson et al.
(2017) discovered the factors regarding
drop rates. Many times, authorities are
not ready to support MOOCs activities
through their institutions. Lack of a
LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 9 2018, pp. 11-14, V
CEmerald Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/LHTN-08-2018-0048 11

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