Exploring instructors' considerations in crafting online courses for professional development
Authors:   , Mutiary Lili 
Published: October 2024

Online teaching and learning for the professional development of workers in service is ever pervasive and continually growing. Yet, studies of teaching and learning with technology are mostly conducted in K-12, pre-service, or higher education contexts resulting in a lack of attention given to the in-service or professional development field. This study aims to alleviate the issue by investigating online courses in a professional development context, particularly in a government institution such as the Financial Education and Training Agency (FETA) under the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. By conducting a study in the institution providing online professional development courses, this study focuses on adult learners.

There are also more studies investigating learners compared to instructors, even though the latter are reportedly struggling in conducting online courses. One of the struggles instructor faces includes choosing relevant technologically enhanced andragogy that are in line with the learning contents and intents. This happened amidst the growth of online professional development courses due to increasing demand accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Online learning needs to be improved not only in terms of quantity but also quality.

By analysing 148 curriculum documents known as the course syllabi, followed by interviewing three gatekeepers and seven instructors conducting online courses at FETA, and informed by prevailing theories of education and educational technology adoption, the present study aimed to uncover practice-based considerations in crafting online course curricula for professional development. Frameworks used in this study include the adult learning principles of andragogy, the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, and the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) model.

The study found the distinction between various types of online courses for professional development: distance learning, webinars, and web-based learning courses. Distance learning can be supplemented with prerequisite and/or action learning. Web-based learning can be limited to specific learners or opened to the general population of learners depending on the learning content. The study also found connections between learning objectives and the use of technology in online courses. The considerations in choosing internet-assisted course types and relevant technologies for online courses include learning content. Characteristics of learning content are considered, such as range, specificity, and confidentiality. These characters correspond to the specification of learners which are adult learners. Both content and audience are considered in crafting online course curricula.

The findings gathered through this study may not only sharpen the crafting of online course curricula but also assist in providing effective support for online teaching and learning. It provides a better understanding of the connection between learning content and the use of technology for online courses in a professional development context meant for adult learners. Such a better understanding of instructors’ considerations helped explain why online course curricula are crafted with certain approaches. It is hoped that the considerations borne by this study can be useful in guiding the practice of designing the curricula for online courses in professional development contexts for adult learners while assisting in providing relevant support for instructors.