Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been integrated into higher education systems as an option for delivering online professional degree and certificate programs; however, concerns about whether employed professionals actively participate in MOOCs remain unresolved. Some researchers have described learners’ employment as the major cause of attrition from MOOCs, but research has not addressed how employed learners interact with MOOCs over time. Understanding employed professionals’ trajectory of participation patterns across course time is thus essential to improving the effectiveness of MOOCs. This study investigated the log data of learner participation to explore how attrition occurs in a professional MOOC, focusing on whether students’ employment status was associated with learner participation. The results revealed learners’ longitudinal participation patterns and confirmed the impact of sustained engagement on course performance. The study also found that employed learners were more likely than their peers without jobs to become cramming learners with initially infrequent engagement in a course but investing intensive time at the end for certificates. We discuss practical implications for designing and facilitating large-scale professional degree and certificate programs in higher education institutions. Implications for practice or policy: Educators can apply MOOCs with a lower weekly workload and a slower pace to support employees’ professional development. Educators should develop professional learners’ interests in the course topic to avoid only cramming for the course certificates. Educators may consider longitudinal patterns of learner participation when assessing learner performance.

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专业证书课程的大规模开放在线课程？专业学习者纵向参与模式的视角

大规模开放在线课程 (MOOC) 已被整合到高等教育系统中，作为提供在线专业学位和证书课程的一种选择；然而，关于就业专业人士是否积极参与 MOOC 的担忧仍未得到解决。一些研究人员将学习者的就业描述为 MOOCs 流失的主要原因，但研究尚未解决就业学习者如何随着时间的推移与 MOOCs 互动。因此，了解受雇专业人士在整个课程时间内的参与模式轨迹对于提高 MOOC 的有效性至关重要。本研究调查学习者参与的日志数据，探讨专业 MOOC 中的减员是如何发生的，重点关注学生的就业状况是否与学习者参与相关。结果揭示了学习者的纵向参与模式，并证实了持续参与对课程绩效的影响。该研究还发现，与没有工作的同龄人相比，有工作的学习者更有可能成为死记硬背的学习者，他们最初很少参与课程，但最终会投入大量时间来获得证书。我们讨论了在高等教育机构中设计和促进大型专业学位和证书课程的实际意义。对实践或政策的影响：教育工作者可以应用每周工作量较低、节奏较慢的 MOOC 来支持员工的专业发展。教育者应培养专业学习者对课程主题的兴趣，避免只是为了课程证书而死记硬背。