Transforming Assessment Mindsets: Professional development in early English language education through a blended MOOC and an online community of practice

The Transforming Assessment Mindsets (TAM) project aims both to research and support teacher training in the real-world context of professional development (PD) in early English language education using a blended Massive Open Online Course (bMOOC). The use of technology in teachers’ PD is recognised as being effective and meaningful and bMOOCs have the potential to widen participation and disseminate innovation. Additionally, bMOOCs associated with online or virtual communities of practice (vCoPs) have been shown to reduce professional isolation, foster engagement and result in higher rates of course completion. The bMOOC Classroom-based assessment in primary English education has been developed with a learning environment design that follows adult learning theories, combining cognitivist and social learning with socio-constructivism and is directed to Portuguese Primary English Teachers. This paper presents the results of the first iteration cycle analysing the pre-bMOOC survey and post-bMOOC survey replies with a focus on the content and structure of the bMOOC. These show general satisfaction with the course but also point out some dimensions that should be enhanced in further iterations, as the navigation and orientation through the different online spaces of the online environment. One major additional finding is that participants reported using regularly Gen AI-supported tools for fine tuning their writings, finding further information and summarising responses