We report on educators' experiences of a massive open online course (MOOC) focused on the Carpe Diem learning design process. The MOOC was developed in‐house using Blackboard CourseSites by a university innovation and development unit, Learning Transformations, at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. We report on a study of MOOC participants' experiences. Conclusions include illumination of MOOCs' value as professional development opportunities that can provide an authentic relevant experience for educators, as well as promote new skills in learning design and delivery for their own teaching. We propose that participation in relevant MOOCs may provide appropriate professional development for academics, and additionally encourage them to develop their teaching practices. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://youtu.be/baI4Brc8nOY

In this paper, we explore the benefits of using social media in an online educational setting, with a particular focus on the use of Facebook and Twitter by participants in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed to enable educators to learn about the Carpe Diem learning design process. We define social media as digital social tools and environments located outside of the provision of a formal university-provided Learning Management System. We use data collected via interviews and surveys with the MOOC participants as well as social media postings made by the participants throughout the MOOC to offer insights into how participants' usage and perception of social media in their online learning experiences differed and why. We identified that, although some participants benefitted from social media by crediting it, for example, with networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities, others objected or refused to engage with social media, perceiving it as a waste of their time. We make recommendations for the usage of social media for educational purposes within MOOCs and formal digital learning environments.

This paper explores students' perceptions of their learning outcomes, engagement, and satisfaction with a technology-facilitated flipped approach in a third-year core subject at an Australian university during 2014. In this pilot study, findings reveal that students preferred the flipped approach to the traditional face-to-face delivery and reported increased engagement, satisfaction, and learning outcomes as a result of both the flipped classroom approach and the use of digital technologies in the delivery of the unit. However, students did report frustration and less satisfaction generally with the flipped model in the initial stages of the semester. The implications are that students may require extra support in the initial stages of delivery of a flipped class to assist them to understand and take up the challenge of the approach, thereby maximising student engagement and satisfaction earlier in the semester.

This article presents the results of a systematic critical review of interdisciplinary literature concerned with digital text (or e-text) uses in education and proposes recommendations for how e-texts can be implemented for impactful learning. A variety of e-texts can be found in the repertoire of educational resources accessible to students, and in the constantly changing terrain of educational technologies, they are rapidly evolving, presenting new opportunities and affordances for student learning. We highlight some of the ways in which academic studies have examined e-texts as part of teaching and learning practices, placing a particular emphasis on aspects of learning such as recall, comprehension, retention of information and feedback. We also review diverse practices associated with uses of e-text tools such as note-taking, annotation, bookmarking, hypertexts and highlighting. We argue that evidence-based studies into e-texts are overwhelmingly structured around reinforcing the existing dichotomy pitting print-based ('traditional') texts against e-texts. In this article, we query this approach and instead propose to focus on factors such as students' level of awareness of their options in accessing learning materials and whether they are instructed and trained in how to take full advantage of the capabilities of e-texts, both of which have been found to affect learning performance.

Adaptive learning presents educators with a possibility of providing learning opportunities tailored to each student's individual needs. As such, adaptive learning may contribute to both improving student learning outcomes and increasing student motivation and engagement. In this paper, we present the findings from a pilot of adaptive quizzes in a fully online unit at an Australian higher education provider. Results indicate that adaptive quizzes contribute to student motivation and engagement, and students perceive that adaptive quizzes support their learning. Interestingly, our results reveal that student scores did not increase significantly as a result of the introduction of adaptive quizzes, indicating that students may not be best placed to assess their own learning outcomes. Despite this, we conclude that adaptive quizzes have value to increase student motivation and engagement.

We report on a study conducted on a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to explore and improve understanding and practice about MOOC learning design and participant motivations and expectations. The “Carpe Diem” MOOC was designed, developed and delivered in 2014. The MOOC participants' experiences were studied through surveys and interviews, and the analysis was triangulated. Three dominant motivations to complete the MOOC were found: to further existing knowledge, to acquire skills in the learning design process and to apply the learning design methodology in practice. We describe the relationship between participant motivations and expectations in this MOOC, which was undertaken mainly by participants who were themselves educators, and make recommendations for pedagogical design in MOOCs to promote and enable participant engagement and completion.

Background Implementation research (IR) can play a critical role in the delivery of disease control interventions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The growing demand for IR training has led to the development of a range of training programmes and university courses, the majority of which can not be accessed by learners in LMICs. This article reports on the evaluation of the massive open online course (MOOC) developed by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases hosted by WHO on the topic of IR with a focus on infectious diseases of poverty. This study followed the Kirkpatrick Model to evaluate training programmes with a specific focus on post-training changes in behaviour. Methods MOOC participants were invited to take part in an anonymous online survey examining their knowledge of IR and how they applied it in their professional practice approximately 1–1.5 years after completing their course. The survey contained 43 open-ended, multiple choice and Likert-type questions. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the quantitative data and responses to the open-ended questions were thematically coded. Results A total of 748 MOOC participants responded to the survey. The demographic profile of the survey respondents aligned with that of the MOOC participants, with nearly 70% of respondents originating from Africa. Responses to the quantitative and open-ended survey questions revealed that respondents’ knowledge of IR had improved to a large extent as a result of the MOOC, and that they used the knowledge and skills gained in their professional lives frequently and had consequently changed their professional behaviour. Respondents most often cited the problem-solving aspect of IR as a substantial area of behavioral change influenced by participating in the MOOC. Conclusions These findings indicate that the MOOC was successful in targeting learners from LMICs, in strengthening their IR knowledge and contributing to their ability to apply it in their professional practice. The utility of MOOCs for providing IR training to learners in LMICs, where implementation challenges are encountered often, makes this platform an ideal standalone learning tool or one that could be combined with other training formats.

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