Escribo play online professional development can support teachers in providing online instruction

This study evaluates an online, free professional development course to support PreK-8 teachers in implementing effective online education. The quasi-experiment included a sample of 283 educators. The course completion rate was 51%, the third-highest among 217 other massive open online courses. The teachers who finished the course advanced 62% more in online education skills than the control teachers (d = 0.44). Participants also fostered their technological skills (d = 0.16). The main drivers of participant engagement were concise and precise content, videos with other teachers' experiences, and SMS messages. Gamification was not a critical driver of participant engagement. Overall, this quasi-experiment revealed that online professional development can be a cost-effective way of equipping teachers to provide online instruction.