Leveraging Virtual Worlds Foreign Language Teacher Preparation

Abstract

Recently in the field of teacher education, there has been a call for a more practice-based approach to teacher education. Best practices for developing any skill set is live practice and coaching. However, due to the many ethical considerations and the obstacles presented to the learning-to-teach process, it is neither practical nor best practice, to have teacher candidates conduct live practice lessons in real classrooms with constant interruptions by expert teachers. In contrast, virtual worlds such as Second Life (SL) can potentially assist teacher educators in overcoming these obstacles. This article presents the findings of a research study using SL in an inter-university Foreign Language (FL) methods course to provide teacher candidates with opportunities to teach (practice skills) while receiving continuous live feedback (coaching) from their methods instructors. The virtual experience and immediate feedback impacted candidate confidence as well as pedagogical practice and forced candidates to engage in reflective practice regarding content and pedagogical knowledge. The complexity of teaching, the role of feedback, and simulation within SL in FL teacher candidate learning are also discussed.

Role-Playing in Teacher Education with InCoLearn and its Qualitative Usability

“…A few research projects and studies examining game-based learning in teacher education have used Second Life to develop classroom learning scenarios (e.g., [32]). Among those solutions, VirtualPREX [33] gained more attention in the past.…”