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.

Video Grand Rounds (VGR) were used at a rural university to prepare special education teacher candidates. Using the VGR structure, teacher candidates were taught to understand, observe, and articulate observations of classroom instruction through the use of authentic classroom videos created locally by K-12 rural special and general educators. The videos include teachers working with learners with disabilities and implementing instruction aligned with the general and adapted curriculum standards. In this paper, we report the effects of VGR on teacher candidates’ development of observation skills in an early experience course in this mixed methods study and share the design and development of templates for implementing this model.

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