The effects of mixed-reality teaching experiences on participants’ perceptions of their classroom management ability are evaluated using a mixed-methods design. Mursion, a technology that enables virtual simulations, is used. Participants include 29 undergraduates pursuing a degree in special education for learners with mild or moderate/severe disabilities enrolled in a university-level course focused on developing skills in managing the learning environment. Participants teach three different scenarios in the Mursion lab over the semester and complete a 21-statement survey using a 5-point Likert-type scale (i.e., strongly agree–strongly disagree) and reflect about their experience into a video camera. Results indicate that some participant perceptions changed over time because of the Mursion experiences and that the academic program being pursued made no difference in the participants’ Mursion experience. Implications for practice with a focus on rural education and limitations of the study are also discussed.
Classroom management is an important skill for classroom teachers that they typically learn while completing their teacher preparation program. Traditional ways of teaching classroom management skills, such as practicum and internship experiences, may not provide the intensity of instruction needed for preservice teachers to develop the classroom management skills needed to be successful in the classroom. An alternative to these traditional methods of teacher preparation is Mursion. Mursion is a mixed-reality environment that allows preservice candidates to practice teaching specially designed scenarios (simulations) with student avatars. In this mixed methods study, we evaluated the effects of Mursion teaching experiences on undergraduate special education juniors' perceptions of readiness to manage a classroom. Twenty-five undergraduate students aged 18-29 participated in the study during the first semester of their junior year. Results indicated that following the Mursion experiences, most participants perceived that: they were better prepared to teach, Mursion was an effective way to practice new skills, the avatars seemed like real students, they had more confidence to manage undesired behaviors, and they felt like they were in a real classroom. Implications for practice indicate that Mursion provides a safe environment for preservice teachers to learn complex skills such as classroom management. Additional research is needed to evaluate how much time is optimal for learning in mixed-reality environments and the efficacy of using Mursion with distance education learners.
This article will highlight strategies to promote interactive distance education activities through special education teacher preparation programs. We begin the discussion by addressing the need for qualified special education teachers in rural areas. We then introduce the potential of distance education via online instruction as a platform for preparing special education teachers to alleviate the current shortages experienced by rural communities. Effective interactive distance education strategies are introduced as a means to improve the quality of distance education preservice teacher preparation programs.
Collaboration between special and general educators is not only essential; the 2004 Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004) mandates this collaboration. Special educators must forge partnerships with general educators to create inclusive school environments for all students. Although collaboration between these professionals has increased while they address such issues as accountability, achievement, and effective use of dwindling resources (Stayton & McCollum, 2002), these collaborative efforts often leave out a key player: The school librarian is this forgotten partner.General and special education teachers rely on the school library because of its diversity of resources, the positive association that it has for many students, and the perception that it is an environment conducive to individualized attention (Zambone, Smith Canter, Voytecki, Jeffs, & Jones, 2009). In addition, many educators use the library for a variety of other reasons, including the following:• Allows students to spend class time in the school library to complete individual or small-group projects.
Preservice and inservice teachers in higher education should have the opportunity to observe conspicuous collaboration in action. When collaborative efforts are overt and used as teachable moments, the possibilities are clearer and the results more impactful for all participants. In this program description, the authors share benefits, challenges, structures, and implementation techniques for modeling conspicuous collaboration in higher education teacher preparation. In order to provide models of conspicuous collaboration, the authors participated in a project to co-teach aspects of general and special education teacher preparation courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The instructors examined their own courses, analyzing the content for each class to design class activities and assignments that could successfully be accomplished by working together and completing meaningful learning activities in multiple ways. Each faculty member delivered their assigned course, adding special collaborative learning activities and assignments that allowed students to have interactive and collaborative experiences while seeing the impact of collaboration of the instructors. Opportunities to demonstrate collaboration became apparent to the authors as students questioned repeatedly how rural K-12 teachers work to best meet the needs of their students. Preservice and inservice teachers in higher education should have the opportunity to observe conspicuous collaboration in action. When collaborative efforts are overt and used as teachable moments, the possibilities are clearer and the results more impactful for all participants. In this program description, we share benefits, challenges, structures, and implementation techniques for modeling conspicuous collaboration in higher education teacher preparation. To provide models of conspicuous collaboration, we collaborated in a project to co-teach general and special education teacher preparation courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. We examined our own courses to design class activities and assignments that could be successfully co-taught. Each of us delivered our individual course, adding special collaborative learning activities and assignments that allowed students to experience interactive, collaborative learning while observing the purposeful collaboration of their instructors. Both of us—together with our preservice and inservice teachers—realized that optimal collaboration included clarifying roles and responsibilities, displaying respect toward the collaborative partner, holding one another accountable, setting aside time for planning and debriefing, and considering ways to combine classroom assignments and learning activities that met the requirements of both courses.
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