Emulating realistic school environments and practicing difficult conversations between collaborating teachers are necessary for teacher candidates to prepare for potentially challenging workplace realities. In an effort to determine best practices for doing so in university classroom settings, a study was conducted comparing role-play with mixed-reality simulation in preservice courses. Half of the participants interacted in role-play; the other half interacted with an avatar in a mixed-reality simulation in a case study with a reluctant coteacher. Participants completed pre- and postsurveys aimed at measuring their opinion of the value of having a coteacher and indicate their perception of usefulness and realism of role-play and mixed-reality. Findings indicate that participants found mixed-reality sessions significantly more realistic and a more useful practice tool when compared with role-play participants. These findings demonstrate promise for continued use of mixed-reality simulation and invites conversation about simulation targeting practice of concepts difficult to replicate in university classrooms. Additional significant findings indicate that participants realized greater value of coteaching partners in the simulated environment. Findings are encouraging because coteaching is commonly used to assist with including students with special needs in general education classrooms; preservice programs must effectively teach communication methods to students in preparation for their future careers.

In this article, we present lessons learned from "Our Stories," a digital writing project designed to assist students in the transition from high school to college. From the collective digital narratives of first-year and first-generation students at an urban public college, who are primarily Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), low-income, and immigrant, and who participated in a First-year Learning Communities course, we examine the challenges of becoming a college student at a public college. Further, we explore how digital writing supports community-building and influences students' transition experience, in particular, making sense of shared challenges. For these BIPOC students, the act of reflecting and writing about their college transition fostered individual and collective awareness and a sense of belonging as they began to negotiate college life. Their narratives also highlight the need for social justice pedagogies that are responsive to student experiences, use asset-based approaches, build community, and promote the active role of students in shaping their educational experiences.

Prior to this, Dr. Satyanarayana was a Research Scientist at Microsoft in Seattle from 2006 to 2012, where he worked on several Big Data problems including Query Reformulation on Microsoft's search engine Bing. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from SUNY, with particular emphasis on Data Mining and Big data analytics. He is an author or co-author of over 25 peer reviewed journal and conference publications and co-authored a textbook-"Essential Aspects of Physical Design and Implementation of Relational Databases." He has four patents in the area of Search Engine research. He is also a recipient of the Math Olympiad Award, and is currently serving as Chair Elect of the ASEE (American Society of Engineering Education) Mid-Atlantic Conference. He also serves as an NSF (National Science Foundation) panelist.

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