Online professional development (OPD) programs have become increasingly
popular. However, participating in professional development does not
always lead to profound professional learning. Previous research
endeavours have often focussed on measuring user acceptance or on
comparing the effectiveness of OPD with a face-to-face delivery, but
there is little knowledge of how the process of professional learning
actually occurs in OPD. This study explores how professional learning
takes place in an OPD program designed according to the principles of
authentic e-learning, and how the learning design and technologies used
impact on the professional learning experienced by the participants. The
context of the study is an international OPD program in vaccine
management developed and offered by World Health Organization. A
grounded theory approach was employed to develop a theorised model of
the professional learning process in an authentic online learning
environment. The findings show that professional learning was
facilitated in a dynamic web of interactions rather than by covering
content: the learner is at the centre of the process, actively engaged
in authentic tasks in collaboration with peers, while mentors and
content play a supporting role. Technology facilitates and enables the
web of interactions. The learning process was found to bear resemblance
to the type of professional learning that occurs in authentic workplace
settings, which implies that the authentic e-learning principles provide
a helpful learning design framework for OPD.