Designing Professional Learning MOOCs for Teacher Connected Learning

• In Event: 66.070 - Connected Learning in Teacher Education

Abstract

Summary
Connected learning is a type of learning that “seeks to build communities and collective capacities for learning and opportunity.” (Ito et al., 2013, p.8). For teacher professional learning, connected learning emphasizes promoting teacher agency, collaboration, and collective knowledge building (Garcia, 2014). Educator-oriented MOOCs have the potential to enhance teachers’ connected learning by offering educators to learn from and engage with the global community of educators (Kleinman & Wolf, 2015; Vivian et al., 2014).

This mixed method study describes the experiences of educators in two educator-oriented MOOCs (N =3,987) offered through the edX platform that were designed to integrate opportunities for participants to connect and learn from one another and apply their learning in practice. Our analysis drew from a number of sources including log events from the courses and forums, pre- and post surveys with participants (Pre N = 1,059, Post N = 279), and pre- and post interviews (N = 15).

The courses include a number of design elements that promoted teacher connected learning. Assignments largely consisted of performance tasks, such as building as interviewing stakeholders or building prototypes. The course designers also required participants to post their assignments in the course forums and instructed participants to give peer feedback on the two previous submissions in the forums. Participants used the forums to discuss course videos, readings, and other resources. The course designers hosted several live events where participants could interact with the course team and fellow course participants

On average, 27% of users who clicked into the course also viewed the forums and the average user who had at least one post, posted 7.07 times in the forums. On the post survey, 43% of respondents said the interactions with other participants in the discussion forums were “very” or “extremely” important to their learning in the course and 27% said they were ‘very” or “extremely” connected to the community of instructors and learners in the course (42% said they were “somewhat” connected).

After participating in the course, participants reported statistically significantly higher self-efficacy and engagement in practices related to the courses. Additionally, 75% of respondents indicated that they had changed their professional practices and after participating in the course 53% of respondents indicated that they had worked with colleagues to implement changes in their school or organization as a result of the course. In interviews, participants described taking actions such as applying for education innovation grant, organizing a school-wide professional development program around the topics of the course, asking for a reduced course load to spend more one on one time with students, and sharing work from the courses with administrators at their school.

This study offers a proof of concept that MOOCs, if designed with high-quality instructional principles, can be effective ways to facilitate teacher connected learning. Future studies will focus on what design elements in MOOCs can best foster changes in participant learning and practice as well as how participation in MOOCs can affect long-term changes in instructional practices, student engagement, and achievement.

Authors

• Joshua Littenberg-Tobias, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Elizabeth Huttner-Loan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Alyssa Napier, Harvard University

• Corinne Glenwerks, Tufts University

• Justin Fire Reich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology