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Abstract

Purpose: One impediment of e-government implementation is the lack of e-(government) competences among public officials, especially because foundational education programs fail to teach them. Therefore, this study suggests massive open online course (MOOC)-based continuous education. It aims to design and evaluate a MOOC and MOOC platform for acquiring e-competence in the public sector and principles for such platforms to capture their inherent design knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses design science research incorporating qualitative and quantitative methods and draws on established patterns of formulating design principles (DPs). Findings: The core results are a physically instantiated MOOC platform and six DPs: DP of 1) easy access and easy use, 2) professional exchange, 3) protected space, 4) domain focus, 5) cooperation with higher education institutions and 6) promotion from higher government level. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to e-government research by extending the design knowledge for the construction of domain-specific MOOC platforms. Moreover, the study contributes to platform economics by discussing existing theses and outlining new opportunities. The research also entails limitations, as the authors have solely considered MOOCs and neglected complimentary offers to sustain learning success. Practical implications: This study provides practitioners with design principles they can use in their efforts to construct education platforms for the public sector. Moreover, the study presents a working MOOC platform instantiating these DPs, and thus provides an exemplary reference. Social implications: Not fulfilling expectations regarding digital public services comes with a risk of decreasing trust in public organizations and the overall government. The results of this study contribute to enabling public officials fulfilling stakeholders' expectations and generating public value. Originality/value: By linking e-government competence education with MOOC platform design, this research approximates an important research gap. Scholars previously investigated e-competences and focused on alone-standing MOOCs to convey those. The results of this study offer the potential to construct platforms to centralize such fragmented solutions, maximizing their impact among public officials.
Design principles for MOOC
platforms: a public
sector perspective
Michael Koddebusch,Sebastian Halsbenning and Jörg Becker
Department of Information Systems ERCIS, University of Münster,
Münster, Germany
Abstract
Purpose One impediment of e-government implementation is the lack of e-(government) competences
among public ofcials, especially because foundational education programs fail to teach them. Therefore, this
study suggests massive open online course (MOOC)-based continuous education. This study aims to design
and evaluate a MOOC and MOOC platform for acquiring e-competence in the public sector and principles for
such platforms to capture their inherent design knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach This study uses design science research incorporating qualitative
and quantitative methods and draws on established patterns of formulating design principles (DPs).
Findings The core results are a physically instantiated MOOC platform and six DPs: DP of 1) easyaccess
and easy use, 2) professional exchange, 3) protected space, 4) domain focus, 5) cooperation with higher
education institutions and 6) promotion from higher government level.
Research limitations/implications This study contributes to e-government research by extending
the design knowledge for the construction of domain-specic MOOC platforms. Moreover, the study
contributes to platform economics by discussing existing theses and outlining new opportunities. The
research also entails limitations, as the authors have solely considered MOOCs and neglected complimentary
offers to sustain learning success.
Practical implications This study provides practitioners with design principles they can use in their
efforts to construct education platforms for the public sector. Moreover, the study presents a working MOOC
platform instantiatingthese DPs, and thus provides an exemplary reference.
Social implications Not fullling expectations regarding digital public services comes with a risk of
decreasing trust in public organizations and the overall government. The results of this study contribute to
enabling public ofcials fullling stakeholdersexpectations and generating public value.
Originality/value By linking e-government competence education with MOOC platform design, this
research approximates an important research gap. Scholars previously investigated e-competences and
focused on alone-standing MOOCs to convey those. The results of this study offer the potential to construct
platforms to centralize such fragmented solutions, maximizingtheir impact among public ofcials.
Keywords MOOCs, Electronic government, E-government, Design science research,
Digital government, Design principles, E-competence, MOOC platforms
Paper type Research paper
© Michael Koddebusch, Sebastian Halsbenning and Jörg Becker. Published by Emerald Publishing
Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence.
Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both
commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and
authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/
legalcode
This research was supported by the Project eGov-Campus, le reference FI-50/043/001012023.
Design
principles for
MOOC
platforms
Received23 May 2023
Revised 9 March 2024
Accepted19 April 2024
Transforming Government:
People, Process and Policy
Emerald Publishing Limited
1750-6166
DOI 10.1108/TG-05-2023-0065
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/1750-6166.htm
1. Introduction
Public sector reforms have always been challenging as its organizations operate on several
levels, are embedded in a complex mesh of stakeholders and are not faced with market
competition. For about two decades, the next chapter of public sector reform has been
predominantly related to digitalization (Layne and Lee, 2001;Wimmer, 2002), and many
positive developments have come along with this transformation (Cordella and Bonina,
2012;Janssen et al.,2012;Scholta et al.,2019). However, despite this growing interest in
research and practice, we can still see public organizations struggling with digitalization
(Duhamel et al.,2023), the permeation of e-government across agencies (Ramadani et al.,
2022) and the corresponding organizational transformation (Nograšek and Vintar, 2015).
This is also reected in an insufcient maturity of public sector digitalization in several
countries (United Nations, 2020).
Many factors have contributed to this situation, and some are still a constraint to
digitalization. Beyond structural obstacles like government structures, political and legal
inuences, especially the public ofcials who are in charge of adopting information systems
(IS) for their daily work and are at the heart of any transformation, are worth consideration.
Pursuing digital transformation requests an adequate change in skills and the workforces
mindset in the public sector, and consequently, it is about enhancing their ability to act in
the digital environment (Distel et al.,2019). Former competences have become obsolete, and
a shift toward more competences reecting digital literacy can be observed (Distel et al.,
2019) as this is heavily required for a lasting change within the organization and
bureaucracy(Mergel et al., 2019, p. 10). These new, digitalization-related competences, we
call e-(government) competences (Gorbacheva et al.,2016). We can observe two distinct
paths posing the e-competence-problem. First, public organizations have not fullled the
new competence requirements, i.e. by sufciently skilling up the public workforce,
incorporating required knowledge on technological developments. Second, (continuous)
education in the public sector does not sufciently acknowledge new opportunities and is
still lacking a digital transformation for itself (Hofmann and Ogonek, 2018). Frequently,
stationary and inexible education and no dispersion into the respective curricula remain
(Hofmann and Ogonek, 2018;Hunnius et al.,2015).
To provide suggestions for solving these issues, we consider the massive open online
course (MOOC) concept as an adequate educational means. MOOCs provide easy access to
education to a large audience via online channels (McAuley et al., 2010). Given the
concentrated e-government knowledge in academia, we argue that alliances of research
institutions and public sector institutions are in charge of forming new channels for
education. Mass media education should be utilized to disseminate this knowledge to the
target audience. Here, we advocate for a solution tailored specically to the public sector
because (1) search costs for public ofcials are too high with existing offers and platforms,
and (2) the public sector is signicantly different from the private sector that a one-ts-all
approach would not address the complexity of the problem. However, as domain-specic
MOOC platforms are barely observed in the market (Halsbenning and Niemann, 2021), the
question regarding an appropriate design of such educational means has not yet been
answered for the public sector domain and its digital transformation. Consequently, our
research goals read asfollows:
Design and evaluation of a MOOC and MOOC platform for e-competence
acquisition.
Design and evaluation of design principles for such MOOC platforms in the public
sector.
TG
To meet these goals, we opt for a two-stage design science approach. We rst design a
classical artifact instantiation, which we then use as a vehicle for deriving design principles.
Therefore, we follow the rationale to attract public ofcials by strongly considering the
requirements arising from the public sector domain. As the solution approach of using
MOOCs and the platform design is a challenging eld itself (Reich and Ruip
erez-Valiente,
2019), we embed our research into the existing literature on MOOCs.
The originality of our contribution emerges from the approach to integrate
e-government competence education with platform design (De Reuver et al., 2018), which
have previously been disjoint elds. Although scholars have explored the use of MOOCs
to convey e-competence (Dhungel et al., 2021;Papageorgiou et al., 2023), platforms
evident potential to maximize the benet of alone-standing offers such as single MOOCs
has been neglected so far.
The remainder of the paper entails related works and research background, the
differentiation between MOOCs and MOOC platforms, our research approach, the ndings
of our research project, the discussion and concluding remarks.
2. Research background
2.1 Public sector digitalization and the role of public ocials
Public sector digitalization often referred to as e-government generally describes the use
of IS by public sector organizations (Lenk, 2002;Lindgren et al.,2021). This broad
understanding of e-government includes the provision of digital public services (Lukea
Bhiwajee, 2023) as well as the transformation to digital administration as a whole (Lindgren
and van Veenstra, 2018). The intention of this digital transformation is to improve both
public administration processes and public service delivery (Yildiz, 2007). The digitalization
of services for citizens and businesses on the one hand and of internal administrative
processes on the other has consequently been coined as external and internal perspectives
on e-government (Evans and Yen, 2006). Lindgren et al. (2021) further integrated that view
and emphasized that public sector digitalization is largely inuenced by the overall (legal,
social, economic and political) environment, the digital infrastructure and policies and
strategies (Lindgren et al., 2021). Considering this environment, the public sector and its
digitalization-induced organizational change face complex and interwoven challenges (Chou
et al.,2008;Nograšek and Vintar, 2015).
So far, one could argue that the digital shift within the public sector is comparable to the
private sector just branded with domain-specic terminology and slightly different
stakeholders. This view, however, fails to recognize the importance of the public sector to
society and beyond. Consequently, the overall measure of its task performance is not
maximizing prot and output by considering pure economic measures but the contribution
to society the public value (Moore,1994, 1995). For e-government, this positive societal
impact has already been specied (Duhamel et al.,2023;Twizeyimana and Andersson,
2019). Therefore, it is important to point out the unique role of the public sector.
Domain understanding as previously outlined is essential to unravel the central role of
the public ofcial within the complex mesh of public sector digitalization. Public ofcials
have been the traditional backbone of public administration since ancient times. They are
vested with the power of the state, and their relationship with clients is characterized by an
imbalance in favor of the public ofcial (Kaufman, 2001;Rhodes, 2016). This can also be
transferred to digitalization. In research, public ofcials have been assigned an ambivalent
role as they can either facilitate or impede the benecial implementation of e-government
(Aikins and Krane, 2010;Chou et al.,2008;Moon, 2002;Norris and Moon, 2005). The
relevance of public ofcials for e-government success and its prosperity has already been
Design
principles for
MOOC
platforms
determined in the beginning of the e-government era (Gil-García and Pardo, 2005;Layne and
Lee, 2001). Meanwhile, the digitalization-induced demands on new competences and
mindset are widely acknowledged to form the basis for a sustainable change (Mergel et al.,
2019).
2.2 Conceptualizing massive open online courses and massive open online course platforms
Massive Open Online Courses are online educational materials delivered via an electronic
medium and offered freely and openly to learners(Burd et al.,2014, p. 37). In our research,
we focus on xMOOCs (Fidalgo-Blanco et al.,2016;Staubitz et al.,2017), which are
characterized by the following four properties:
(1) Massive refers to a theoretically unlimited number of participating learners.
Compared to conventional education offerings, MOOCs have high scalability
without geographic or time restrictions (Leontyev and Baranov, 2013;McAuley
et al., 2010).
(2) Open refers to the absence of access restrictions in terms of payments, qualication
and afliation (Siemens, 2013).
(3) Online refers to the online (oftentimes even online-only) provision of the education
content, like videos or presentations, and the interaction between and among
learners and teachers (Leontyev and Baranov, 2013;Siemens, 2013).
(4) Course refers to a dened setting in which the education activities take place
including xed start and end dates as well as contents, structure and tests set in
advance (Siemens, 2013).
With the beginning of the 21st century, this MOOC concept emerged with a promise to offer
access to higher education to all parts of society leading to a democratization of education
and a new pillar for lifelong learning (Delic and Riley, 2020;McAuley et al.,2010;Siemens,
2013). Borne by high expectations, MOOCs became a hype with rapidly increasing
subscriptions, followed by decreasing participation and high drop-out rates (Baggaley, 2013;
Reich and Ruip
erez-Valiente, 2019;Skapinker, 2013). Essential in explaining this
phenomenon was the recognition that MOOCs come along with high scale effects from an
economic perspective but, in turn, those effects do not acknowledge the individual
educational requirements neither for learners nor for teachers (Hoxby, 2014;Kennedy,
2014). This core problem has been addressed by research but still remains partly unsolved
(Adamopoulos, 2013;Hone and El Said, 2016;Huang and Lucas, 2021).
Our rationale behind using the MOOC concept aside those drawbacks is twofold. First,
triggered by the grand challenges of our time, we can observe a drastic decrease of the
(obligatory) on-site concept for work and education. Especially, the COVID-19 pandemic led
to a wider acceptance and dispersion of remote work and education fostered by the general
movement to new work (Nagel, 2020). Hence, we are faced with another world than 10 years
ago (MOOC hype-phase), especially in the public sector. Second, we have different incentive
structures within the public sector domain as previously indicated by the public value and
power imbalance toward clients. As we can barely observe any domain-specicMOOC
platforms, we explore a new approach by focusing on offering large-scale opportunities for a
specic, limited target group (public ofcials). Therefore, it is important to view the MOOC
concept in light from a platform perspective.
As the concept of multi-sided platforms (De Reuver et al., 2018;Staykova and
Damsgaard, 2015) provides the basis for broadcasting and consuming MOOCs, the platform
approach has been widely adopted as it ensures a simple mediation between the core groups
TG
of teachers and learners in education-environments (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2016). With
MOOCs vitally relying on the platform concepts, MOOCs and digital platforms led to a
dedicated market of MOOC platforms where emerging ecosystems and oligopoly structures
can be observed (Halsbenning and Niemann, 2021;Rothe et al.,2018). While the learner
considers the content of a MOOC of critical importance (Rothe et al., 2018), the functions of
the digital platform (e.g. gamication and learning analytics) simultaneously determine the
opportunities of the MOOCs hosted thereon. Hence, the importance of the platform design
may not be neglected. Despite several researchers have called for more design knowledge on
MOOC platforms (Fürstenau et al.,2019;De Reuver et al.,2018), this has hardly been taken
up. Such design knowledge could aid practitioners and scholars to generate future paths for
establishing MOOC platforms. This is particularly relevant to the public sector because
domain-specic preferences are not yet reected in MOOC platform development
(Halsbenning and Niemann, 2021).
2.3 An e-government perspective on competence and massive open online course platforms
Existing research (e.g. Gorbacheva et al.,2016;Nordhaug, 1993)denes e-government
competence (e-competence) as the combination of an individuals work-related knowledge,
skills and abilities(Distel et al.,2019) required to act in a digitalized public sector. These
competences are rising concurrently with the driving digitalization. Nowadays, the needed
competences are manifold and not bound to few technical skills but concerning public
ofcials through all departments and all hierarchical levels (Lindgren et al.,2019). For the
past decade, scholars have continuously workedto investigate competence requirements for
a digitalized public sector and established e-competence frameworks. For example, Hunnius
and Schuppan (2013) differentiated generic- and core e-government competences, and
Hunnius et al. (2015) suggested a framework comprising the ve categories of technical,
socio-technical, managerial, organizational and political-administrative competences.
Moreover, scholars, e.g. Auth et al. (2021), have drawn on other digital competence
frameworks for their work, such as DigComp 2.0 (Vuorikari et al.,2017). As outlined above,
our understanding of e-competences is based on the denition introduced by Distel et al.
(2019), who suggest a broad understanding entailing both competences and personality
traits. While those competence frameworks comprise a variety of e-competences ranging
from competence in public policy to competence in cyber security (e.g. Distel et al.,2019;
Hunnius et al., 2015;Hunnius and Schuppan, 2013), the focus of our research is given to a
certain set of competences in the areas of process management,project management,change
management or strategic thinking (cf. Chapter 4).
The utilization of MOOCs and MOOC platforms to facilitate e-competence acquisition is
an underrepresented eld of research. In fact, studies have already investigated the design
of MOOCs in general leading to generic recommendations as learner-centered design,
engagement between learners and clear course structure (Moore and Blackmon, 2022), but a
more specic perspective is still necessary. However, recent scholarly efforts have begun to
address the acquisition of specic e-competences through MOOCs. For example, Dhungel
et al. (2021) investigated the necessary MOOC design for learning about articial intelligence
(AI) in the public sector and Papageorgiou et al. (2023) examined MOOCspotential to
enhance public ofcialshuman capital, focusing on understanding open government data
opportunities. While these contributions are important for acquiring specic e-competences,
considerations on the design of MOOC platforms for educational purposes in the public
sector, which could distribute such specic MOOCs, are lacking. Hence, the design and
evaluation of platform-related design principles can be seen as a parallel effort to maximize
the impact of alone-standing MOOCs.
Design
principles for
MOOC
platforms
3. Research design
In line with the objectives of this study to design and evaluate a MOOC and MOOC platform
and corresponding design principles, we usea design science research (DSR) approach. DSR
aims at the creation of artifacts to extend human and organizational boundaries (Hevner
et al.,2004). Its purpose, therefore, lies within the construction, evaluation and adaptation of
such artifacts (Winter, 2008), e.g. design principles (Gregor and Hevner, 2013;March and
Smith, 1995). Design research has been well-appreciated for IS research in general
(Niederman and March, 2012) but for e-government and education research in particular.
Goldkuhl (2016) pointed out that DSR can contribute to e-government research in several
ways, for example by providing prescriptive knowledge to e-government solutions.
Moreover, Chen (2011) highlighted the benecial combination of DSR and explanation-based
research.Several scholars established that DSR has proven to complement behavioristic
research models by testing and improving educational practices iteratively through use in
hands-on or real-world contexts (Brown, 1992;Collins et al.,2004;Shavelson et al.,2003).
This includes the usage and development of innovative, digital learning formats (Bakker,
2018;Collins et al., 2004) and has also been applied to MOOCs in the context of digital skills
(Edelsbrunner et al., 2022).
For the particular context of this research project, DSR seems well-suited for three main
reasons. First, the need for e-competence acquisition, especially given the challenges the
public sector faces, clearly constitutes a real-world problem. Rigorously collecting and
analyzing data and thus providing scientically designed artifacts depicting solution
approaches to these problems have always been the core objective of DSR (vom Brocke et al.,
2022). Second, DSR is highly valued for its emphasis on the cycle of designing and
evaluating innovative artifacts (Peffers et al., 2012;Sonnenberg and Vom Brocke, 2012). Our
research context offered several opportunities to evaluate artifact increments and integrate
feedback into the further development, such as workshops, surveys and interviews.
Therefore, using DSR as theoverarching paradigm to integrate qualitative and quantitative
methods appeared well-aligned with the objectives of this study. Third, a sole ex-post view
on and analysis of established artifacts, i.e. MOOCs and MOOC platforms that have been
stable under market competition, is subject to a success bias as such an approach falls short
in analyzing failed or new innovative cases (De Reuver et al.,2018).
We selected a processual DSR approach according to Peffers et al. (2007), which entails a
process consisting of six phases. We partly execute the DSR process iteratively to be able to
integrate each iterations evaluation results into the subsequent design phase (cf. Figure 1).
Figure 1.
Research design
Phase 1
Scarcity of
vocational training
impairs e-
competence
acquisition
Phase 2
Design and
implementation of
MOOC platform,
MOOC and derive
generally applicable
design principles
from there
Phase 3.1
Conceptual platform-
and MOOC design
Problem
Identification Objectives Design and
Development Demonstration Evaluation Communication
Phase 3.3
Design principle
development
Phase 3.2
Implementation of
platform and MOOC
Phase 4.1
Structured
documentation
Phase 4.2
MOOC execution
and moderation
Phase 4.3
skipped due to non-
applicability
Phase 5.2
Surveys and
interviews
Phase 5.1
Evaluation
workshop
Phase 5.3
Evaluation workshop
and questionnaire
Phase 6
Publication and
presentation
Source: Created by authors based on Peffers et al. (2007)
TG
Phase 1 Problem identication: Todays public administration is heavily challenged by the
digital transformation, which makes the acquisition of e-competence imperative. Existing
education programs do notseem to meet this requirement.
Phase 2 Objective denition: Based on Phase 1, the rst research objective was to design
and implement a MOOC platform that tackles the aforementioned problems. The second
objective is to process the ndings of this instantiation further to derive generally applicable
design principles, which scholars and practitioners can use for implementing such offers.
Design principles are considered indispensable for communicating design knowledge
(Chandra et al., 2015), as they make results tangible and usable and improve the
development and implementation of IS. Design principles entail what is unique to design
knowledge: prescriptive knowledge that presents a distinct structure of how to do things
(Gregor et al., 2020). The implementation of the platform and a MOOC can thus be regarded
as an elementary step in the design process; however, it serves primarily as a vehicle to
derive the design principles.
Phase 3.1 Design and development: We designed the platform conceptually, entailing
the denition of target groups, requirements and the establishment of public sector-specic
requirements of the platform and its contents.
Phase 4.1 Demonstration: The results were transformed into corresponding documents
and presentations, presenting a holistic concept of the platforms nature, contents and
desired effects on the target group.
Phase 5.1 Evaluation: The documents were evaluated in a workshop. Nineteen
participants [e-government scholars, practitioners (target group), didactic experts and users
(teachers)] were brought together to discuss the concept.
Phase 3.2 Design and development: Actual development of the MOOC platform,
incorporating theoretical insights and the feedback of phase 5.1. To instantiate the
platforms content, we designed and produced a fully matured MOOC available for public
ofcials (66 videos, each between 5 and 15 min; 41 interactive tasks; 22 quizzes).
Phase 4.2 Demonstration: The demonstration happened in a real-world setting
(Venable et al., 2016). Public ofcials could freely sign up for the platform and the MOOC.
The only prerequisite to partaking in the offer was German language prociency, as the
contents were provided in German. Further details of the conceptual setting will be outlined
in the next chapter.
Phase 5.2 Evaluation: We followed a mixed-method approach of data collection
(Creswell, 2014;Creswell et al., 2003) for a naturalistic evaluation (Venable et al.,2016). This
included a start survey (motivation/ambition) and end survey (qualitative aspects of the
offer, including the perceived effect of the contents or the perceived benets of the platform
approach; n¼112126 depending on item) as well nine semi-structured interviews. We
interviewed seven learners who completed the MOOC and two who did not. The average
duration of the interviews was 48min. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded and
analyzed (Mayring, 1994). The interviews were designed to last 60min and included a range
of questions, allowing for additional follow-up inquiries and deviations from the planned
interview guide.
Phase 3.3 Design and development: Six design principles to adhere to when
implementing MOOC platforms for the education of public ofcials were derived in this
phase based on a reective approach of principle development as suggested by Möller et al.
(2020). When designing, i.e. formulating, the principles, we adopted a scheme as prescribed
by Chandra et al. (2015), including 1) material properties, (2) activities of users and (3)
boundary conditions.
Design
principles for
MOOC
platforms
Phase 4.3 Demonstration: This phase is rather theoretical in the design process,
because, with the design of design principles, we have created an intangible artifact. Hence,
phase 4.3 was omitted.
Phase 5.3 Evaluation: The design principles were evaluated in another workshop (same
participants as in phase 5.1). The afterward slightly revised DPs were cast into a
questionnaire (ve-point Likert-scale) and distributed to three e-government experts from
academia for nal evaluation with respect to their contribution to successfully designing
education platforms for public ofcials..
Phase 6 Communication: Communication of the results in academic literature.
4. Conceptual setting an overview of platform and massive open online
course
The MOOC platform has been developed aiming to fulll the outlined design objectives.
Development here explicitly does not mean the technical implementation of an IS from
scratch but the adaption of a well-established framework (Totschnig et al., 2013;Meinel and
Schweiger, 2017) for MOOC platforms to the requirements of this project. The platform can
host different MOOCs. All MOOCs have been developed by higher education institutions,
have a strong relation to public sector digitalization subjects and thus foster the acquisition
of e-competence. Each course consists of learning videos and interactive test elements. For
this project, a MOOC on business process management (BPM) in the public sector was
developed, which plays a key role in digital transformation (Kregel et al.,2022) and is
therefore considered an important e-competence (Distel et al.,2019;Hunnius et al.,2015;
Hunnius and Schuppan, 2013). The topics of the MOOC cover the basics of BPM, procedure
models for BPM projects, process modeling, change management and the potentials for
automation. In total, the MOOC comprises ten learning units, each containing various
lecture-like videos with durations ranging from 5 to 15min. Each video is followed by
interactive tasks (such as lling in blanks, drag-and-drop exercises or multiple-choice
questions), providing learners with immediate feedback on their progress. The course also
includes additional material,offering learners complex modeling examples and
explanations of process mining algorithms. The platform is freely available under the name
eGov Campus(Halsbenning et al., 2021) and the course is titled Process Management in
the Public Sector(German: Prozessmanagement im öffentlichen Sektor).
One learning unit was activated per week. Once activated, videos and exercises were
available for the remaining time of the course duration. After the last learning unit, there
was a nal test. Depending on their participation in tests, users could achieve either
certicates of attendance or (if they passed the tests) additional performance certicates. A
forum served for users to get in touch with each other and discuss contents. The research
team actively monitored the forum, aiding the participants in case of ambiguities or
clarifying issues. Users were completely free in their decision to schedule their learning
progress. Due to the short time frames of videos and exercises, users were able to blend the
MOOC into their everyday lives exibly.
Visually, the platform resembles state-offered education opportunities, for example by
incorporating national colors. A seamless corporate design was developed that aligned the
platform and the thereon hosted MOOCs. A particular focus was laid on the bold display of
involved institutions of higher education and their teaching staff. Usability-wise, users could
freely browse through the platforms and MOOCsinformational content. For the MOOC
relevant to this research project, 616 individuals enrolled when it was rst announced. This
number rose to 1,220 until the MOOC ended (i.e. the last exam period had passed). The great
majority of learners originated directly from public organizations. A rather small share of
TG
users stemmed from private sector organizations that are collaborating with the public
sector (e.g. consultancies).
5. Results
This section aligns with our dual research goal: to design and evaluate a MOOC and MOOC
platform for acquiring e-competence in the public sector and to design and evaluate design
principles for such platforms. We will rst address the insights for the MOOC and the
MOOC platform, followed by the main contribution of this paper: six detailed design
principles derived from our iterative research process.
5.1 Massive open online course and massive open online course platform
In the rst evaluation (workshop), we received recommendations for the didactical outline
and the integration of digital means for assessment purposes was highlighted. In order to
reach the target group of public ofcials, it is important not only to offer them added value
but also incentivizing decision-makers to let employees participate. Despite minor
recommendations, the general course and platform concept were positively assessed.
The second round of evaluations considered the learnersperspectives and revealed an
overall positive attitude toward the MOOC (cf. Table 1) and the MOOC platform (cf. Table 2).
In the interviews, two design-relevant aspects for those exercises were raised. First, the
immediate, automated feedback motivated the learnersimpulses as intended. Second, this
type of exercise overcomes a missing open culture of error as two interviewees mentioned:
[Those exercises] still have the advantage that no one will notice what kind of a mistake I might make.
My perception is that there is no open culture of error, especially in the target group of public
administration.
As the quality of the offer is one vital factor contributing to the attractiveness of the MOOC and
the respective platform this is always to be considered in designing such offers. However,
beyond didactical aspects, we found further aspects to be appealing to the target group.
Table 1.
MOOC: Learners
perceptions and
evaluation
Question/statement þ(%) O (%) (%) Mean SD n
Through the course, I have acquired new
competences 86.44 11.86 1.69 4.22 0.72 118
I liked the learning offer 92.86 3.97 3.17 4.49 0.79 126
The alternation of learning videos and
exercises supports my learning 91.20 4.80 4.00 4.35 0.82 125
The division into small learning units boosts
my motivation 92.80 4.80 2.40 4.47 0.80 125
Time exibility is very important to me in
educational opportunities 97.48 1.68 0.84 4.76 0.57 119
The exibility of the MOOC course offers a
great advantage over conventional learning
opportunities 89.08 8.40 2.52 4.47 0.79 119
The focus of the offer on the public sector has
made it more attractive to me 83.05 13.56 3.39 4.25 0.85 118
I think the opportunity to interact with other
participants and network is important 42.02 31.93 26.05 3.13 1.07 119
Source: Created by authors
Design
principles for
MOOC
platforms
The exibility of the training offer is of great importance for public ofcials, as both survey
results and interviews indicate:
For me, this is a key point. Im not dependent on my employer giving me a specic time when Im
free to do this, so to speak, but I can arrange it for myself as it suits me at work. Or even if I say: I
have so much to do at work at the moment, I cant do it, I can do it on the weekend or in the
evening. That doesnt work with xed appointments.
Another intervieweeargued that using the MOOCplatform caused fewer overhead costs:
Thats really very convenient right now because it simply eliminates these travel costs and these
travel requests. And everyone can get information online a bit more exibly and individually on the
topics that really interest them and that really help them. Those [face-to-face] or hybrid oers are
always a bit dicult for us.
The strategy of positioning the platform in a domain-specic niche has also been widely
acknowledged:
The platform is more specically tailored to my interests as an employee in public administration.
Registration and participation are easier compared to other MOOCs as there are obviously no fees
or (hidden) economic interests of the provider behind the oer.
Here, the statement also refers to the approach of cooperation with other (renowned)
organizations. From the learnersperspective, especially the anchoring in the university
environment conveys a feeling of credibility similarly the government promotion:
So that was also one of the reasons why I came up with it because I had seen that many universities
are also in the alliance [...]. But also, of course, because the [public organization] and the federal
government are also involved.
Embedding the platform into such a research/public environment as well as strongly
presenting that cooperation to the outside world has been highlighted from both platform
core perspectives in the workshops (teachers, practitioners, etc.) and by the survey
respondents/interviewees (treated learners). The overall appearance and positioning on the
market turned out to be very important for the platform to address the target group.
Based on the survey data, opportunities to connect to peers for professional exchange
were not rated as key requirements for a MOOC platform:
Thats what I appreciate about other formats, which is actually not the case here. That is this
networking, where I get to know people with whom I can exchange ideas again at a later date, where
Table 2.
Evaluation of the
MOOC platform
Question/statement þ(%) O (%) (%) Mean SD n
Offerings such as this platform help to spread
digital skills in the public sector 92.37 7.63 0.00 4.35 0.62 118
Offerings such as this platform are easier to
integrate into my everyday life 99.11 0.89 0.00 4.75 0.46 112
Government funding promotes the
trustworthiness of the platform 72.32 19.64 8.04 3.96 0.98 112
The anchoring of the platform in the university
environment conveys credibility and seriousness 89.29 9.82 0.89 4.38 0.74 112
I would have found the same offers on other
platforms/channels 3.57 27.68 68.75 2.07 0.87 112
Source: Created by authors
TG
I then say: We got to know each other through this, how do you do it in your [local administration]?
Thats what I always nd very valuable.
5.2 Design principles for e-government massive open online course platforms
As a result from the design iterations and the evaluation insights, we formulated design
principles based on the recommended structure by Chandra et al. (2015). Even though some
overlap cannot be avoided, the following design principles do not offer any intended internal
relationships, dependencies or hierarchy:
5.2.1 DP 1 Principle of easy access and easy use
Provide the platform with minimum-barrier ways to view and utilize the platform, its oers and its
functions in order for users to be able to take up the platformsoer independent of nancial or
personnel resources and conditions, given that the administrative capacity and budget to enable the
participation in similar oers are very limited from a sponsors point of view, which often creates
enormous barriers of entry for those individuals, who wish to partake in such oers.
DP 1 ensures a lightweight entrance considering the individual (e-competence acquisition)
and the employer organizations (staff upskilling, low administrative overhead, reduction of
transaction costs and decreasing budget competition).
5.2.2 DP 2 Principle of professional exchange
Provide the platform with means to enable exchange and communication between users in one-to-
one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships in order for users to be able to get in touch with
each other to lay the foundation for establishing professional relationships, potentially reaching
beyond the platforms boundaries, given that the platforms purpose is to attract users whose
professional background lies within a shared eld.
DP 2 ensures an exchange of experience among the learners. On a MOOC platform, many
public ofcials are gathering providing potential for sharing experiences beyond the
classical competence acquisition.
5.2.3 DP 3 Principle of protected space
Provide the platform with the possibility to privately work on content with the active user being the
sole recipient of system output and feedback in order to give users a dedicated safe space to deepen
their knowledge without having to expect judgement by fellow users or third parties, given that the
individuals using the platform are most likely new to a topic and need to build initial condence in
their abilities.
DP 3 ensures learners to assess their acquired knowledge and skills without being exposed
to negative consequences. They rather benet from unlimited, self-paced practicing via
digital, automated exercises.
5.2.4 DP 4 Principle of domain focus
Provide the platform with courses and content that are focusing on public sector subjects in order
for users to reduce search costs and thus create synergies by pointing them to complimentary
content oers, given that current learning opportunities do not oer centralized, domain-specic
content to individuals, which hinders them from nding similar courses relevant for them.
DP 4 ensures to attract public ofcials by providing domain-specic content and thereby
creating high identication with the platform. A MOOC platform for the public sector can
occupy a market niche.
5.2.5 DP 5 Principle of cooperation with higher education institutions
Provide the platform with content developed and oered by renowned education institutions in
order for users to recognize the quality of the oered courses and to increase sponsorstrust in the
oer provided, so that they are willing to release their stafor training given that online oers need
strong signals to indicate their reliability and quality to compete with traditional oers.
Design
principles for
MOOC
platforms
DP 5 ensures to convey trustworthiness and to signal quality by using a reputation transfer
from higher education institutions. The platform for the public sector embodies a higher
value to the outside world through this cooperation.
5.2.6 DP 6 Principle of promotion from higher government level
Provide the platform with visual indicators, e.g. logos and corporate design, that resemble
supporting governmental entitiesvisual appearance in order for users to recognize these patterns
and thus build initial trust into the oer given that members of the public sector community are
more likely to get involved in an oer if it appears to be coming from the very same institutions, the
individual works for.
DP 6 ensures that the platform is perceived as an educational offer from the public sector
family. The platform raises its attractiveness as public ofcials can identify themselves
with it and must not fear hidden economic interest.
The evaluation of the design principles comprises an overall positive impression, with
four DPs having a mean of at least four points and one (DP 3) with a neutral overall
assessment [cf. Figure 2, which was inspired by Giessmann and Legner (2016)]. For DP 2,
one professor argued that this DP goes beyond the purpose of educating, however not
questioning the purpose in general:
The learning content is enriching even without participant exchange. Other formats (conferences,
communities, etc.) can be used for networking, especially since networking in the MOOC format
would involve (expensive) support formats.
For DP 4, one professor recommends also considering domain-independent content and
preparing it accordingly. This does not touch the general purpose of the clear domain focus
as the design principle focuses on the overall dedication of platforms, which offers some
leeway in the exact composition of offered MOOCs.
If topics outside the public sector are also relevant to it, they should certainly be allowed to come up,
but with use cases/examples focused on the public sector.
Figure 2.
Results of the expert
evaluation
Easy Access and Use
Professional Exchange
Protected Space
Domain Focus
Cooperaon Higher
Educaon Instuons
Promoon Higher
Government Level
DP1
DP2
DP3
DP4
DP5
DP6
5 4321
5,00
3,00
4,33
4,00
4,33
4,33
0,00
1,73
0,58
1,00
1,15
0,58
Mean SD
Legend: Professor for Informaon Systems and E-Government Professor for Informacs in Public Administraon Professor for Public Management
Source: Created by authors
TG
Finally, for DP 5, one professor argued, that the offer should be opened for further education
levels and be designed accordingly.
I agree with the image/condence argument. The problem is that [...] a course for practitioners is
not for masters students, etc. Therefore, I think it would be better to allow dierentiation and
specicoers for target groups and not to pretend that the courses are (designed) for everyone.
6. Discussion
With our research, we map e-competence (education) requirements to the design of MOOC
platforms, revealing new insights to both elds.
6.1 Research implications
The results of this study contribute to two major streams of research: research on
e-government, e-competence acquisition in particular and research on MOOC platform
economics. The aim of our research was the design and evaluation of a MOOC and MOOC
platform for the acquisition of e-competences and the design and evaluation of corresponding
design principles for the construction of such platforms. With this two-stage approach, we
contribute a situated instantiation of a MOOC platform for e-competence acquisition (Level 1-
Contribution) and, at the core of this paper, design principles (Level 2-Contribution) (Gregor and
Hevner, 2013). Those DPs capture design knowledge about the necessary actions in designing
MOOC platforms to attract public ofcials for enhancing their e-competence. The design
principles represent an important contribution to the question of how existing knowledge of
e-competences can be made available to public ofcials and, thus, enforce the acquisition of
e-competences among the public sector workforce. In the past, scholars have mainly focused
on either answering the questions of which competences are considered e-competences (Distel
et al.,2019;Hunnius et al.,2015;Hunnius and Schuppan, 2013) or exploring how MOOCs must
be designed to facilitate the acquisition of specic e-competences (Dhungel et al., 2021;
Papageorgiou et al.,2023). While these studies raise intriguing questions and address key
topics, their results are hardly operationalizable without an appropriate context, such as a
platform. Therefore, the provision of design principles for the construction of public sector-
specic MOOC-platforms adds to the body of knowledge of e-competence acquisition by
integrating previous ndings and outlining a platform-based solution to centrally host MOOCs,
maximizing their impact and providing a unied solution for e-competence acquisition.
Considering platform economics, the concept of a domain focus partly contradicts the
classical, emerging monopoly/oligopoly structures in the MOOC platform market
(Halsbenning and Niemann, 2021). Here, the design science approach is valuable to receive a
new perspective on the platform design as retrospective analyses are not capable of guring
out new strategies, thus, contributing to the call for further design studies for digital
platforms from De Reuver et al. (2018). The results presented within this study offer some
interesting insights concerning the intersection of platform education research and public
sector research as a niche eld. As presented in the results chapter, the learners are very
content with the platform, the MOOC and their learning progress. With these outcomes, we
can add to a research stream concerned with reputation transfer. Scholars contributing to
this stream argue that platform providers can benet from importing reputation onto the
platform and thus build trust among the target group. Such trust-building is achieved
through signaling (reduction of uncertainties by sending signals) (Teubner et al.,2019,2020).
In our case, reputation on the platform was imported by two means: rst, we incorporated
higher education institutions (DP 5) and second, we made the platform visually appear in the
looks of an ofcial governmental offer (DP 6). Both together are likely to have built trust
Design
principles for
MOOC
platforms
among the target group, as the learnersuncertainty toward the MOOC platform has
decreased with the perception of these two signals. We therefore can conrm the
applicability of this theory to MOOC platforms in the public sector.
Furthermore, we can draw from economic arguments around niche markets to explain
the success of the MOOC platform and the MOOC among the target group (Noy, 2010;Ou
and Chan, 2014;Rao et al., 2004). Even though there is a variety of MOOC platforms on the
market already, the one created within this research project aimed at a very specic target
group (public sector employees) with a very specic objective (acquisition of e-competence).
This specicity impressed the target group as there was an optimal t between the target
groups requirements and the content offered on the platform. The niche character of the
platform did not lead to invisibility or a too narrow target group but to efcient utilization of
the target group and its potential.
6.2 Practical implications
Practitioners benet from our research in two ways: using the DPs as guidelines and
referring to the existing MOOC platform for reference. Based on the different data sources, i.e.
people with different perspectives on public sector education, contributing to shaping the
artifacts and evaluating them, we argue that those DPs are a stable design knowledge
contribution (Carlsson, 2006). Continuous education in the public sector, especially in
e-competences, has long been undervalued. However, current demographic developments
and the ght for talenton an employee-favoring job market present signicant challenges
for public organizations in terms of workload and efciency. Consequently, digitalization and
digital transformation (Mergel et al.,2019), and the required individual and organizational
competences, have become focal points. Strategic staff development in the public sector has
come to realize that a one-ts-all approach for continuous education in e-competence
acquisition is outdated. Instead, acknowledging public ofcialsvarying needs, the landscape
for continuous education must offer exibility and individuality. Based on this
understanding, practitioners can use the DPs to construct education platforms for maximum
impact. Without creating an environment that attracts public ofcials to use continuous
education offers, merely providing content will not sufce to drive e-competence acquisition.
The DPs from this research offer guidelines to create this very environment envisioning
platforms that public ofcials are motivated to use, especially when they are inclined toward
digital continuous education.
Furthermore, realizing that abstract design principles can sometimes be challenging to
apply in practice, the platform developed in this research project (eGov Campus)
(Halsbenning et al., 2021) serves as a practical reference when creating new platforms. As it
is one of the few large-scale endeavors for this domain to scientically develop (continuous)
education formats according to the zeitgeist, it can be used as an example for future projects.
Considering the large potential audience, opening up MOOC platforms as a new tool for the
highly needed education initiatives in the public sector provides a major opportunity and
vehicle to enforce e-competence acquisition.
In terms of existing offers of education platforms in the public sector, it is worth
highlighting a couple of particular insights gained from the results. The target group, public
ofcials and individuals working within or closely related to the public sector, values a
striking national-governmental branding. The survey and interviews revealed that the
corporate design of the platforms logo and the MOOC, which resemble public institutions,
was perceived as trust-building and high-quality. Concerning the respective design principle
(DP 6), leaders charged with implementing educational platforms for this target group
should exploit this insight and consider (re-)branding their offers. The reliable connection
TG
that public ofcials seemingly feel to their professional environment and their employers
can be used to make educational offers stand out among the masses. With a great variety of
MOOC platforms, thousands of MOOCs and other video portals (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo), it
can be challenging and overwhelming for public ofcials to nd individually suitable
content. These search costs should be avoided, as they are likely to result in the potential
learner aborting his/her endeavor to acquire new e-competence. Visual elements and a
resembling branding that unambiguously signal the potential learner to offer what he/she
searches for (in this case, e-competences for public sector digitalization) can help reduce
these search costs and thus directly assist in acquiring e-competence.
6.3 Social implications
Often, the purpose of e-government and e-competence is discussed from a managerial,
efciency-oriented point of view. However, one may not forget that this quest for efciency
is no end in itself. Public administration, especially on the local level, and its performance are
often considered the direct interface between the citizens and businesses and the
government as a whole (Nemec and de Vries, 2015). Therefore, the degree to which public
administration is capable of fullling stakeholdersrequirements in terms of digital public
services has an immediate effect on the overall perception of public administration
(MacLean and Titah, 2022;Schwab et al.,2017) and even on the amount of trust individuals
and businesses place into the government (Tolbert and Mossberger, 2006). These
considerations in particular, but even the considerations regarding the original purpose of
administration, providing public value (Moore,1994, 1995), must be taken into account when
contemplating e-competence acquisition (Duhamel et al.,2023). Therefore, our results
mediately also impact the public ofcialscompetence to fulll stakeholder requirements,
maintain government trust and generate public value.
6.4 Limitations
Our research also entails limitations regarding research focus, methodological approach and
evaluation audience. We focused on how to attract public ofcials to use the platform according
to their preferences. The instantiated artifacts were evaluated positively, and the majority of
participants also reported an improvement in their personal competences. In the experimental
setup, only the individually perceived development of competences could be queried by means
of surveys. Although scientically established didactic and pedagogical standards were
applied, the testing of a change in competences is reserved for future research. With MOOCs,
we also have only investigated one branch of education, which calls for complimentary offers to
sustain the learning success and to consider persons with differing preferences or disabilities.
As the conceptual setting has been outlined in German language, the contributors to the
evaluations were all German-speaking albeit also having different nationalities.
7. Conclusion
In this research project, we used a DSR approach to design and evaluate a MOOC and
MOOC platform for e-competence acquisition and corresponding design principles. At the
core of our results, we present six design principles for the construction of public sector-
specic MOOC platforms, which contribute academically to the design knowledge on
domain-specic education platform design and enforced e-competence acquisition, depicting
an important discourse in the eld of e-government. For practitioners, we offer distinct
guidelines what to consider when either newly setting up or reconstructing existing
education platforms. Additionally, with a fully matured MOOC platform, we provide a
practical reference for the instantiation of these guidelines.
Design
principles for
MOOC
platforms
The design principles namely are as follows:
DP of easy access and easy use;
DP of professional exchange;
DP of protected space;
DP of domain focus;
DP of cooperation with higher education institutions; and
DP of promotion from higher government level.
For future research, four main activities arise. First, scholars must investigate how MOOC
education can be embedded into more traditional learning settings. While we showed that
MOOC platforms and MOOCs offer great potential to further develop e-competences in the
public sector, one must not neglect the advantages of personal education and face-to-face
interaction. Therefore, we must set out to create hybrid learning formats, combining the best
aspects of both worlds. Second, our ndings from the design science study are to be
complemented by other research approaches. This research can either focus on the individuals
using the education offer or on the platform economy. For instance, it is of interest, whether the
perceptions about the MOOC platform differ across people of different ages, positions or
gender. Regarding, the recommended market outline, i.e. the public sector niche, further studies
could evaluate the long-term success of such strategies. Third, the transferability of our
ndings to other domains or education levels needs to be investigated. For example, it is of
utmost interest, how far our ndings for the public sector are different compared to private
sector counterparts. Beyond opening these new research objectives to the scientic audience,
our contributions pave the way for reconstructing (continuous) education for public ofcials in
the digitalized era. Fourth, given the diverse range of occupations and tasks in the public sector,
complementary research should be conducted to better understand individual or role-specic
needs for e-competences. This would ensure that each public ofcial can be equipped with the
precise competences needed for their unique function.
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About the authors
Michael Koddebusch is a doctoral student and research associate at the Department of Information
Systems at the University of Münster. His research focuses on digital government with a particular
focus on digital government competence development. Michael Koddebusch is a member of the
Competence Center E-Government of the European Research Center for Information Systems
(ERCIS). Michael Koddebusch is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: michael.
koddebusch@ercis.uni-muenster.de
Sebastian Halsbenning is a political advisor and was a research associate at the Department of
Information Systems at the University of Münster. Before that, he completed his doctoral studies at
the same department. His research interests include e-government and public sector digitalization,
with a focus on e-government competence, business process management and platforms in the public
sector. Sebastian Halsbenning is a member of the Competence Center E-Government of the ERCIS.
Jörg Becker is managing director of the Department of Information Systems at the University of
Münster, holder of the Chair for Information Systems and Information Management and Academic
Director of the ERCIS. He is speaker of the Centre for Europe and editor of several scientic journals.
From 2008 to 2016, he was Vice Rector for Strategic Planning and Quality Assurance and Chief
Information Ocer of the University of Münster. His research interests include information
modeling, especially reference modeling, business process management, commerce information
systems and e-government. In the context of work on process and text mining, articial intelligence
(AI)-based applications are the focus of research, for example in the analysis and automated
evaluation of comment texts with regard to hate comments on the internet, which simplies the
moderation of comment functions, or in the development of a real-time sign language app based on
AI algorithms.
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