Mixed-reality simulation (MRS) is an innovative and promising approach in teacher preparation programs. While the use of MRS as a practice-based learning opportunity (PLO) in special education teacher preparation and professional development continues to grow, integrating this novel technology can be daunting for faculty members and school leaders. The purpose of this practitioner guide is to further explain the utility of MRS, provide detailed explanation and resources for integrating this technology as a PLO in teacher preparation, and illustrate an example of how MRS can be used in special education coursework.

This study investigated if culturally relevant pedagogy was embedded into online reading courses at the undergraduate and graduate level in at a southeastern university college of education. The goals of the study were: to highlight the importance of a fully developed syllabus for adjunct and part-time faculty who rely heavily on the syllabus; to emphasize the importance of syllabi for curriculum and course integrity when programs move to fully online; to investigate whether the cultural relevance emphasized at the program level was evident in the syllabi. The findings indicate that alignment between assessment and objectives and a detailed syllabus in online courses are critical in creating culturally relevant online courses. This study is important to the field in several ways. First, colleges of education may benefit from the findings on explicit instructions in shared syllabi and in alignment in programs and courses. Additionally, including democratic classrooms and ensuring depth of knowledge in reading programs is important in program evaluation.

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The aim of this chapter is to describe a partnership between a local university and a summer academy that provided a space for pre-service teachers (teacher candidates) to work with students from diverse backgrounds. Teacher candidates in a literacy assessment course assessed and tutored students in this summer academy. The chapter describes the tutoring program and the pre-service teachers' response to a teaching efficacy survey based on the work with students. Findings indicate that after the tutoring experience, teacher candidates felt more competent to engage students and to use literacy strategies with the students.