Authenticity perceptions in virtual environments

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine three distinct aspects of authenticity that pre-service teachers (PSTs) experience when they engage with virtual classroom environments to develop their content-intensive instructional practice – task authenticity, student avatar authenticity and performance authenticity – and their perceptions about the usefulness of the simulated teaching experience to support their learning. Design/methodology/approach This paper explored these conceptions of authenticity and usefulness within a larger research study whose goal was to develop virtual environment tools to help elementary PSTs learn how to engage in one ambitious teaching practice: facilitating discussions that engage students in argumentation. To examine these aspects of authenticity and usefulness, this paper used a general qualitative deductive analysis approach to examine data from 104 interviews with 26 case study teachers and examined patterns in PSTs’ perceptions within and across interviews and authenticity aspects. Findings While these PSTs strongly value the utility of these tools to support their learning, findings point to variation in their perceptions of authenticity. Findings showed that most PSTs perceived the tasks as an authentic representation of the work of teaching. However, their perceptions of task authenticity did not always align with their perceptions of avatar or performance authenticity. Originality/value This paper argues that these three aspects of authenticity relate to, but expand upon, the broader notions of presence and plausibility noted in the literature on virtual environments and should be taken up more directly in future studies of users’ perceptions of virtual environments both within and outside of educational contexts.

Eliciting Learner Knowledge: Enabling Focused Practice through an Open-Source Online Tool

“…Any simulation sacrifices some degree of authenticity in order to reduce complexity [ 12 ]. The key for simulations is to have enough authenticity for the task to be considered beneficial practice [ 58 ]. The results from the PST survey indicate that a majority of the PSTs believe ELK is authentic, and that they felt the activity met the goals of practicing eliciting learner knowledge.…”

How preservice and in‐service elementary teachers engage student avatars in scientific argumentation within a simulated classroom environment

“…There are two main components of the task: (1) the materials that are provided to the teacher facilitating the discussion, and (2) the materials that are provided to the simulation specialist during their training about how to enact the students' ideas during the discussion. Previous research has suggested that participants perceive the students' responses and the performance task to be authentic representations of how students at this grade level respond and what teachers are asked to engage in during science instruction (Mikeska & Howell, 2021).…”

Video-based simulations in teacher education: the role of learner characteristics as capacities for positive learning experiences and high performance

“…Regarding simulations, the experience of presence through authenticity and involvement plays a key role and positively affects performance and learning outcomes (Grossman et al, 2009;Schubert et al, 2001). Prior research on presence has shown positive effects on students' learning outcomes (Chernikova, et al, 2020a(Chernikova, et al, , 2020bMikeska & Howell, 2021;Stevens & Kincaid, 2015). In particular, little research has been conducted on understanding learner characteristics that might serve as more or less favorable capacities for experiencing a digital learning environment as authentic.…”

“…Incorporating videos into teacher education and professional development can ensure that both of these criteria are met (Borko et al, 2008 ; Codreanu et al, 2020 ; Santagata, 2009 ). Although which learning environment and which learner characteristics increase the perception of authenticity has yet to be determined by research (Betz, 2018 ; Betz et al, 2016 ; Gulikers et al, 2005 ; Mikeska & Howell, 2021 ), videos have been proven reliable in preserving the authenticity of snippets of everyday teaching and learning (Gaudin & Chaliès, 2015 ; Kang & van Es, 2019 ; Tekkumru-Kisa & Stein, 2017 ). At the same time, the practice of selecting distinct situations, segmenting them into meaningful learning units, and highlighting particularly relevant situations in staged videos offers many technical opportunities for a sufficient decomposition of complex classroom realities (Derry et al, 2014 ; Thiel et al, 2020 ).…”