Evaluating Learning Transfer from MOOCs to Workplaces: A Case Study from Teacher Education and Launching Innovation in Schools

Abstract

Over two iterations of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for school leaders, Launching Innovation in Schools, we developed and tested design elements to support the transfer of online learning into offline action. Effective professional learning is job-embedded: Learners should employ news skills and knowledge at work as part of their learning experience. This MOOC aimed to get participants to plan and actually launch new change efforts, and a subset of our most engaged participants were able and willing to do so during the course. Required assessments spurred student actions, along with instructor calls to action and modeling and exemplars provided by course elements. We found that participants led change initiatives, held stakeholder meetings, collected new data about their contexts, and shared and used course materials collaboratively. Collecting data about participant learning and behaviour outside the MOOC environment is essential for researchers and designers looking to create effective online environments for professional learning.