TY - JOUR
T1 - Theory of change models deepen online learning evaluation
AU - Chesniak, Olivia M.
AU - Drane, Denise
AU - Young, Celine
AU - Hokanson, Sarah Chobot
AU - Goldberg, Bennett B.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was fully supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number R25GM121257. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have gained traction as resources for professional development. This article presents the method that we used to evaluate a professional development MOOC for postdoctoral trainees that was created by a university consortium in the US. Most approaches to evaluating MOOCs focus on analysis of participation, outcomes from course assignments, self-reported learning outcomes, course completion and user pathways through the online content or clickstream data. Few published evaluations describe in detail how learning happens within online courses and the anticipated medium and longer term cognitive and behavioral outcomes on participants. This work aims to guide those who are designing, implementing and evaluating MOOCs through applying theories of change to focus evaluation on the process of learning. This approach can be used as a complement to traditional approaches for evaluating MOOCs. We described how we worked with the MOOC team building the content to develop a theory of change for each module (or lesson) within the MOOC and used the theory of change to guide evaluation of short and medium term participant cognitive, affective and attitudinal, and behavioral outcomes. Finally, we share lessons learned and suggestions for implementing theories of change in both the design and evaluation phases of MOOC development.
AB - Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have gained traction as resources for professional development. This article presents the method that we used to evaluate a professional development MOOC for postdoctoral trainees that was created by a university consortium in the US. Most approaches to evaluating MOOCs focus on analysis of participation, outcomes from course assignments, self-reported learning outcomes, course completion and user pathways through the online content or clickstream data. Few published evaluations describe in detail how learning happens within online courses and the anticipated medium and longer term cognitive and behavioral outcomes on participants. This work aims to guide those who are designing, implementing and evaluating MOOCs through applying theories of change to focus evaluation on the process of learning. This approach can be used as a complement to traditional approaches for evaluating MOOCs. We described how we worked with the MOOC team building the content to develop a theory of change for each module (or lesson) within the MOOC and used the theory of change to guide evaluation of short and medium term participant cognitive, affective and attitudinal, and behavioral outcomes. Finally, we share lessons learned and suggestions for implementing theories of change in both the design and evaluation phases of MOOC development.
KW - Evaluation
KW - Massive open online course
KW - Online learning
KW - Professional development
KW - Student outcomes
KW - Theory of change
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U2 - 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2021.101945
DO - 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2021.101945
M3 - Article
C2 - 33894476
AN - SCOPUS:85104659396
SN - 0149-7189
VL - 88
JO - Evaluation and Program Planning
JF - Evaluation and Program Planning
M1 - 101945
ER -
