Teacher Professional Development Through Massive Online Open Courses: A Systematic Review

This article presents a systematic review of scientific papers to identify quality determinants in Teacher Professional Development (TPD) initiatives based on Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs). With these keywords (TPD and MOOC), studies published between 2015 and 2020 were obtained from the Scopus database. From 80 articles we identified 19 empirical studies and the features relevant for success were inductively inferred: 1) mid to long term duration, from three months to three years; 2) having contextualized objectives, adapted to the needs and circumstances of the teachers; 3) the use of constructivist and sociocultural practices and notions about learning; 4) the recognition of the personal and social identities of teachers, taking into account subjective aspects like values, beliefs and attitudes; and 5) official certification, legitimated by prestigious institutions. These findings are detailed and proposed as fundamental criteria for the design, implementation and evaluation of MOOCs for TPD.