Engagement in Learning in the Massive Open Online Course: Implications for Epistemic Practices and Development of Transformative Digital Agency with Pre- and In-Service Teachers in Norway

Abstract

This study examines how participants engage in learning in the Pedagogical Information and Communication Technology (ICTPED) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) aimed to enhance Norwegian pre- and in-service teachers’ professional digital competence. The study also provides an insight into how participants’ engagement in learning in the ICTPED MOOC may have enhanced their transformative digital agency. Analyses of participants’ engagement in learning draw on P.Y. Galperin’s pedagogical theory. The data comprised 310 participants’ responses to the questionnaire administered to all pre- and in-service teachers engaged in the ICTPED MOOC in 2016—2019. Mixed methods were applied for data analyses by providing quantitative and qualitative evidence about the participants’ engagement in the course. Findings reveal that the majority of participants engaged in learning by reading the textual information embedded in the course. In doing so, they followed the sequential progression informed by the course design. Other participants engaged in learning by watching the videos and listening to the audio files embedded in the course as well as by attempting the assignments and other activities. By following these approaches, the participants created their individual learning trajectories and therefore may have enhanced their digital agency and affected the epistemic practices in the course.