Learning Study: nurturing the instructional design and teaching competency of pre-service teachers

Abstract

This paper presents an evaluation study of an innovative and theory-based initial teacher education course entitled Learning Study, the aim of which is to develop the instructional design and teaching competency of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. The Learning Study course is offered to all second year students as part of the Bachelor of Education programme of the biggest teacher education institute in Hong Kong. The course comprises a series of theory-based tutorials, supportive consultation meetings, and a research lesson practicum. To assess the effectiveness of the course, a framework of representation, decomposition, and approximation of practices was adopted to describe and analyse the teaching of practice. A total of 341 pre-service teachers participated in a quasi-experimental design questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was applied to explore the relationship between the activities of their learning process and their learning outcomes. Theory-based tutorials, consultative support, and research practicums are confirmed to be the predictors of learning outcomes which include instructional design skills, teaching competency, and clinical experience. This paper proposes Learning Study as a model to help pre-service teachers develop their instructional design skills and teaching competency.

Peer-learning between pre-service teachers: embracing Lesson Study

“…The reported benefits of Lesson Study for pre-service teachers (PSTs) mirror those for teachers (Leavy, 2010;Parks, 2008;Simms & Walsh, 2009). With the above in mind, this paper intends to contribute to the growing body of research exploring the potential of Lesson Study to bridge the initial teacher education (ITE) theory-practice interface (Cheng, 2014). Informed by the view that PSTs benefit greatly from peer-learning (Byra, 1996;Sherin & van Es, 2005), what follows is an exploration of a peer-learning model of lesson study, owned and managed by dyads of PSTs during their schoolbased training.…”

“…Published Lesson Study studies within ITE focus on benefits and challenges (Chassels & Melville, 2009), instructional design and strategy (Cheng, 2014), professional growth (Burroughs & Luebeck, 2010;Cajkler et. al, 2013;Marble, 2006) and principles of teaching (Simms & Walsh, 2009).…”

“…Further highlighted benefits by previous studies include engaging in professional conversations with experienced teachers about the 'big ideas' relating to their subject pedagogy and the overarching curriculum (Gurl, 2011), exploring pedagogy in more depth (Cajkler et al, 2013) and supporting improvements in teaching through the proactive learning of mistakes (Marble, 2006). Importantly, Lesson Study allows PSTs to meaningfully engage with inquiry into teaching (Chassels & Melville, 2009;Marble, 2006) and by engaging in action research, learn through the evaluation of cycles of planning, delivery, reflection and refinement (Cheng, 2014). In contrast, reported challenges include: insufficient authentic time to collaborate (Chassels & Melville, 2009) and the logistics of immersing fully in all phases of the lesson study (Burroughs & Luebeck, 2010).…”

“…Methodology An action research model was adopted (McNiff & Whitehead, 2002), as the incorporation of action research into ITE programmes can facilitate PST reflective abilities in relation to their teaching (Cheng, 2014). Participants were Secondary (training age phase 11-18) Physical Education PSTs (n=17: males = 9, females = 8; aged 21 to 30), completing a 38 week Postgraduate, Master's level Certificate in Education course (PGCE) in eastern England.…”

Preservice Science Teachers’ Instructional Design Competence: Characteristics and Correlations

“…Several related conceptions and terms for IDC (instructional design competence) used in the literature are: instructional design competencies (Bowman, 2015;Cheng, 2014;Klein & Jun, 2014;Richey et al, 2001), instructional design skills (Brill, 2016;Isman et al, 2012;Koehler, 2015;McElvany et al, 2012;Nativio, 2014), pedagogical design capacity (Aydeniz & Dogan, 2016;Beyer, 2009;Beyer & Davis, 2012;Forbes, 2009;Forbes & Davis, 2010;KnightBardsley & McNeill, 2016;Ross, 2014) and lesson planning skills (John, 2006;Koehler, 2015;Klein, 1991). These various academic terms represent IDC as a hierarchy and mental ability of human beings.…”