Supporting professional learning in a massive open online course

Professional learning, combining formal and on the job learning, is important for the development and maintenance of expertise in the modern workplace. To integrate formal and informal learning, professionals have to have good self-regulatory ability. Formal learning opportunities are opening up through massive open online courses (MOOCs), providing free and flexible access to formal education for millions of learners worldwide. MOOCs present a potentially useful mechanism for supporting and enabling professional learning, allowing opportunities to link formal and informal learning. However, there is limited understanding of their effectiveness as professional learning environments. Using self-regulated learning as a theoretical base, this study investigated the learning behaviours of health professionals within Fundamentals of Clinical Trials, a MOOC offered by edX. Thirty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed to explore how the design of this MOOC supported professional learning to occur. The study highlights a mismatch between learning intentions and learning behaviour of professional learners in this course. While the learners are motivated to participate by specific role challenges, their learning effort is ultimately focused on completing course tasks and assignments. The study found little evidence of professional learners routinely relating the course content to their job role or work tasks, and little impact of the course on practice. This study adds to the overall understanding of learning in MOOCs and provides additional empirical data to a nascent research field. The findings provide an insight into how professional learning could be integrated with formal, online learning

Professional Learning in Massive Open Online Courses (Pl-MOOC)

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Charting collective knowledge: Technology-enhanced professional learning

The workplace is an environment where powerful, deep and effective learning takes place through non-formal workplace learning, as well as through formal training and education. This article describes a mechanism to enhance learning at work by capitalising on collective knowledge within an organisation. Two scenarios are presented illustrating how individual and group learning and performance may be improved. These scenarios are based on empirical data of knowledge work practices within a multinational organization

Professional Learning in Massive Open Online Courses

This study explores the role of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in supporting and enabling professional learning, or learning for work. The research examines how professionals self-regulate their learning in MOOCs. The study is informed by contemporary theories of professional learning, that argue that conventional forms of learning are no longer effective in knowledge intensive domains. As work roles evolve and learning for work becomes continual and personalised, self-regulation is becoming a critical element of professional learning. Yet, established forms of professional learning generally have not taken advantage of the affordances of social, semantic technologies to support self-regulated learning. MOOCs present a potentially useful approach to professional learning that may be designed to encourage self-regulated learning. The study is contextualised within ‘Fundamentals of clinical trials', a MOOC for health professionals designed and run by the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and Harvard Catalyst, the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center, and offered by edX. The research design builds on the authors' previous studies in the areas of Technology Enhanced Learning and Professional Learning and in particular, research which explored the learning behaviours of education professionals in the Change 11 MOOC. The previous studies demonstrated a link between individual learners SRL profile and their goal setting behaviour in the Change 11 MOOC as well as uncovering other factors which influenced their engagement with the MOOC environment. The present study extends the original study by further focusing on specific aspects of self-regulation identified by the Change11 studies and our parallel studies of self-regulated learning in knowledge workers. The analysis of learner behaviour in the Fundamentals of Clinical Trials is complemented by additional exploration of the design considerations of the MOOC, to determine the extent to which course design can support or inhibit self-regulation of learning. The study poses three research questions: How are Massive Open Online Courses currently designed to support self-regulated learning? What self-regulated learning strategies and behaviours do professionals adopt? and How can MOOCs be designed to encourage professionals to self-regulate their learning? Validated methods and instruments from the original study will be adapted and employed. The research is unique in providing evidence around two critical aspects of MOOCs that are not well understood: the skills and dispositions necessary for self-regulated learning in MOOC environments, and how MOOCs can be designed to encourage the development and emergence of SRL behaviours

Why Study on a MOOC? The Motives of Students and Professionals

Massive Open Online Courses have emerged as a popular mechanism for independent learners to acquire new knowledge and skills; however, the challenge of learning online without dedicated tutor support requires learners to self-motivate. This study explores the primary motivations reported by participants in two MOOCs: Fundamentals of Clinical Trials and Introduction to Data Science (n=970). Each MOOC drew a diverse cohort of participants ranging from professionals working in the field to students preparing to enter it. Across both MOOCs, a similar profile of primary motivations emerged, with respondents identifying the potential benefits to their current role, or future career, alongside more general responses reflecting casual interest in the topic or a simple desire to learn. Professionals were primarily motivated by current needs, describing how the course could fill gaps in their formal knowledge, broaden their skillset to increase their effectiveness at work, or enable them to innovate. Professionals also saw the benefit of MOOC study in preparing them for new roles and career progression. Students, meanwhile, used MOOC study to complement their other learning. It is clear that MOOC study represents a popular mechanism for professionals to address both current and future learning needs

Designing MOOCs for professional learners: Tools and patterns to encourage self-regulated learning

Employers are becoming aware of the potential of Massive Open Online Courses as a significant form of learning for work. MOOCs have the potential to transform professional learning, but require learners to be self-regulated. Most MOOCs are not designed in ways that encourage self-regulated learning. Therefore there is a need for design tools that can guide instructional designers and teachers in designing MOOCs that promote self-regulation. This paper presents two toolsets to guide MOOC design. MOOC-SRL patterns allow the sharing and reuse of MOOC designs that encourage self-regulation. These design patterns demonstrate ways in which courses can take advantage of the knowledge and expertise that professional learners bring to their formal learning experience, and highlight the importance of course design that engages professional learners and meets their individual needs. Second the MOOC-DTQ is an audit tool that guides instructional designers in pedagogic design decisions made at platform (macro) level as well as at course (micro) level. The tool enables instructional designers to question their design decisions and provides possible interventions that may improve their design. These tools were developed as part of a larger study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation MOOC Research Initiative