**Pitfalls and Positives Developing a Massive Open Online Course**
**Author(s)**: Julie Goldman, Research Data Services Librarian, Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Elaine Martin, Director and Head Librarian, Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Thea Atwood, Data Services Librarian, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Michelle Bass, Population Research Librarian, Lane Medical Library, Stanford University
**Abstract**
With funding from the NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Initiative for Resource
Development, Countway Library of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School is developing The Best Practices for Biomedical Research Data Management Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). This course provides training to librarians, biomedical researchers, undergraduate and graduate biomedical students, and other interested individuals on recommended practices facilitating the discoverability, access, integrity, reuse value, privacy, security, and long term preservation of biomedical research data. Each of the nine modules is dedicated to a specific component of data management best practices and includes video lectures, presentation slides, research teaching cases, readings, activities, and interactive quizzes.
The project team overcame multiple challenges related to creating an open online course including: updating and expanding outdated curricular content published in a format designed for in-person
instruction; reworking content focused on teaching research data management to librarians for a broader research focused audience; managing a project team consisting of multiple professionals from
multiple organizations participating in a variety of roles; and identifying an open source learning management platform that met the development team's needs and constraints.
This presentation addresses the lessons learned about developing interactive online curriculum for a wide public audience, and explores making curricular materials openly accessible, sharable, reusable, and responsive to change. Key takeaways from this project will assist future course development, adding to best practices for creating massive open online courseware. The authors share their
standardized conceptual framework for online educational development design and delivery as well as look forward to the feasibility of widely sharing curricular materials more openly.
