Predictors of teacher satisfaction with online professional development: evidence from the USA's e-Learning for Educators initiative

Online professional development (OPD) is proliferating in an effort to eliminate barriers to high-quality in-service teacher training. Using the Internet as a vehicle for continuing professional development, however, introduces new concerns largely absent in its face-to-face counterpart. For example, evidence from the USA's e-Learning for Educators (EfE) initiative suggests that some OPD participants do not complete the online courses in which they enrol. In response to this evidence, the present study (N = 3998) investigates factors associated with teacher satisfaction with OPD via secondary analysis of EfE evaluation data. After considering participant variables, factors examined previously in the e-learning and professional development satisfaction literatures as well as novel predictors, a blockwise ordinary least squares regression model explains a considerably large share of the variance in participants' satisfaction with OPD (48.1%). Implications for the design and implementation of OPD and the training of facilitators to increase satisfaction are discussed.