The Digital Learning Transition MOOC for Educators: Exploring a Scalable Approach to Professional Development
Traditionally, K–12 professional development has been comprised of a few days per year when educators are released from their teaching or administrative responsibilities to attend workshops. Typically, these workshops provide information through “sit and listen” presentations that, as research repeatedly demonstrates, may increase awareness of changing expectations but do not lead to changes in educational practices or improvements in student achievement.
While much is known about effective professional development practices, the resources available
to meet this critical need are limited and have been declining in many states and districts. Using traditional professional development approaches is far too costly and of limited effectiveness. New approaches are required that embody the principles of effective professional development and are scalable, accessible, and flexible to meet the needs of different educators. The Massive Open Online Course for Educators (MOOC-Ed) provides opportunities to use proven, research-based practices, along with new technologies and facilitation approaches to deliver high-quality professional development at scale.
In spring 2013, the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University (the Friday Institute), in partnership with the Alliance for Excellent Education (the Alliance), developed and implemented a MOOC-Ed. While MOOCs are being developed and offered by many universities, the MOOC-Ed explores a specific model designed to provide K–12 educators with self-directed, supported, flexible, yet structured learning opportunities. The first MOOC-Ed focused on the digital learning transition, and the qualitative and quantitative data captured throughout the course shed light on district and school leaders’ needs around digital learning planning as Figure 1 well as trends and patterns that could influence the development of MOOC-Eds as cost-effective personalized means of professional development.
The Digital Learning Transition (DLT) MOOC-Ed was organized around a framework based on the Alliance’s Project 24 and the Friday Institute’s Digital Learning Collaborative, which have been designed to help K–12 educators plan digital learning initiatives to meet district and school goals. As shown in Figure 1, this framework incorporates four cyclical processes and seven key elements that must be addressed for a digital learning initiative to successfully improve student learning.
The course helps educators:
- understand the potential of digital learning in K–12 education;
- assess progress and set future goals for their schools or districts; and
- plan how they and their colleagues will proceed to achieve those goals.
This report describes the design of the first DLT MOOC-Ed; results, as determined from web analytics, analyses of online discussions, and survey data; and lessons learned about this new approach to professional development.
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PDF Authors and Contributors
Dr Dave Frye
Dr Glenn M Kleiman
Dr Mary Ann Wolf
Published
September 12, 2013
Resource Type
Report
Published By
Friday Institute for Educational Innovation