Online professional learning (PL) is one scalable way to promote the continuing education of a growing early childhood workforce and has the capacity for individualization necessary to meet the needs of diverse early childhood professionals. We know little, however about how early educators engage with and navigate online content and implement practices developed through online PL. Thus, our team co-developed with early educators the iWRITE System, an online PL focused on enhancing language and literacy outcomes for young children through quality writing practices. This study engaged preschool teachers in evaluating the content and feasibility of the iWRITE and examined the engagement of teachers in the implementation study. The intervention included access to 8 online learning modules with content about writing development and practices, videos of teachers enacting the practices, and two practice-based learning assignments designed to encourage teachers to implement the target practices in their own classrooms. A coaching platform was integrated so learners could post artifacts and receive feedback from an expert coach.

Methods:
First, 10 preschool teachers engaged in a think aloud interview as they navigated the initial prototype of the online modules. Next, 18 preschool teachers engaged with the modules for one month to understand how teachers navigated the modules and practice-based assignments independently. Finally, 54 diverse preschool teachers and 497 4-year-old children in their classrooms participated in a RCT evaluating the iWRITE PL with pre-test and post-test assessments spanning seven months after intervention commencement. Teachers were diverse ethnically (52% AA, 46% White, 2% other) and in educational background (1 High School, 5 AA/AS, 32 BA/BS, 16 MA/MS). Teachers were experienced with an average of 8.98 years of teaching (SD = 6.96, range 1-31). There were no differences in treatment vs. control teachers in demographic variables.

Results:
Results of the think aloud demonstrated teachers’ value of exemplar videos with voiceovers guiding viewers to key practices to be learned. Study two findings identified that teachers found the modules easy to navigate, appreciated the parallel structure, and contained sufficient content to promote learning. Teachers’ usage data identified optimal video duration and appropriate pacing. Linear latent growth curve analysis indicated that treatment teachers increased more rapidly on the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) writing subscale over the course of the study (3.0 times faster, p<.001), leading to a higher score at post-test (d=1.4, p=.001). Treatment teachers exhibited higher scores on the ELLCO total (d=.8, p=.05) noting improvement in the supports they provide in their classrooms for literacy broadly. Children in classrooms of teachers who engaged fully in iWRITE demonstrated higher writing outcomes than children in classrooms of teachers who did not fully engage (letter writing: Cohen’s d=0.9, p=.005; spelling: d=1.4, p <.001).

Conclusions:
Findings highlight the benefits of co-creating online learning tools with educators to promote engagement. The iWRITE PD’s capacity to improve writing environments, the broader literacy environment and children’s writing was contingent on teacher engagement. We will discuss our current work to design an adaptive iWRITE model with virtual enhancements to better engage a more diverse group of teachers.

Keywords: Online professional learning, early childhood educators, literacy, RCT, user experience, child outcomes.