Undoubtedly, student teaching and field experiences constitute a significant part of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs (Ronfeldt, Schwartz, & Jacob, 2014). However, teacher educators face challenges in placing their Preservice teachers (PSTs) in field experiences that mimics real classrooms inclusive of possible instructional scenarios, as well as vulnerable student groups.
We are in Post-Pandemic era whereby the need to prepare educators for conditions outside of brick and mortar ITE environments is here to stay (Griffin et al., 2020). In fact, online provision of ITE activities worldwide, including the UK, have proven to provide the agility for the PSTs to view, comment, practice at their own discretion and pace (La Velle et al., 2020). Also, research has pointed to the effective use of Virtual Teacher Learning Environments (VTLEs) to supplement traditional methods such as field experiences, practicums, and internships (Hixon & So, 2009; Monroe, Mendez, & Nutta, 2020), especially in providing sheltered access to student populations that the PSTs might not otherwise encounter in clinical training (Turkan & Kerr, 2021).
Within this context, this event aimed to stimulate discussion on the following questions:
- Â What VTLE environments exist?
- What advantages and disadvantages do these environments present?
- To what extent is the VLE acceptable for the teacher trainees who deconstruct existing practice and approximate their practice by engaging in instructional interactions?
- To what extent is the VTLE feasible for the teacher trainees to complete the sessions and perform the taught skill in accordance with the feedback provided?
- To what extent do the trainees improve in terms of their preparedness for steering classroom discussions through VTLE platforms?
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14:00 | Welcome & Introduction Sultan Turkan, Queen’s University Belfast |
14:10 | Panel Discussion Sultan Turkan, Queen’s University Belfast Professor Joyce Nutta, University of Central Florida; Dr. Jamie Mikeska, Educational Testing Service |
14:55 | Summary |
15:00 | Event Close |