Wednesday, October 5
3:15 PM-4:15 PM
EDT
Room 4

From Emergency Remote Learning Until Now: The evolution of online teaching and learning strategies for teacher practicums

Birds of a Feather ID: 61524
  1. aaa
    Laurie McCormick
    Marshall University
  2. aaa
    McKenzie Brittain
    Marshall University

Abstract: The global pandemic brought many challenges to the field of education. School districts and higher education institutions quickly addressed the ways in which they delivered curriculum (Piccolo et al., 2020; Quezada, et al., 2020). Institutions found creative strategies to best meet the needs of their practicum students such as using social media to recruit students to instruct and allowing their student teaching peers to observe (Kim, 2020). Monroe, et al., (2020) relayed how technology was implemented in meeting the student teaching requirements through having candidates teach avatars via Skype for their practicum experience. Additionally, Stringer Keefe (2020) articulated how a rural practicum supervisor used virtual coaching as an online strategy that included the same elements of traditional preservice training: observation, practice, reflection/feedback, and goal setting. Many educators thought virtual educational settings would be for a brief period; however, COVID-19 changed the way education is and will continue to be delivered in the future (Singh et al., 2021). Scholars have investigated the effects of COVID-19 on teacher preparation (Choate, et al., 2021), and further gathered information to illustrate how teacher education institutions adapted to the online format due to the pandemic (Carillo & Florez, 2020). Focusing our discussion on supporting learning and engagement in online educational settings, we seek to further understand ways in which higher education educators are approaching the use of online learning in a practicum setting. Specifically, our discussion will focus on higher education teacher preparation programs’ strategies to meet practicum requirements for student teaching. Following the move to fully remote teaching, we encountered challenges with designing a practicum course that allowed our candidates to garner a comprehensive student teaching experience while also experiencing the move to online learning within their own classrooms. In our discussion, we will share our personal experiences with navigating the initial move to remote learning in a practicum course, while also expanding on strategies and techniques we have established to meet the needs of our practicum requirements. Through sharing our experiences with these challenges in the practicum classroom, our goal is to encourage further discussion around strategies and techniques for online learning in a practicum course. Our discussion will be facilitated by focusing on the following questions: (1) How did pre-service or in-service teachers complete their practicum during COVID-19? (2) How do we facilitate a practicum experience virtually that meets the needs and expectations for a teacher preparation program? (3) How do we facilitate a practicum experience virtually that meets the needs and expectations for the candidate? (4) How, as educators, can we refine the use of educational technology in our practicum courses to better prepare pre-service or in-service teachers for remote learning? (5) How did you adjust your practicum course before and after COVID-19 related school closures, and now? (6) How have your online teaching strategies evolved since the initial COVID-19 related school closures? These questions were informed by consulting literature that described how teacher educators and teacher education institutions handled student teaching practicums during COVID-19 (Ferdig et al., 2020; Kim, 2020; Monroe, et al., 2020; Quezada et al., 2020). Our goal from the Birds of a Feather discussion is to aid teacher education administrators and higher education educators to better prepare their students for both in-person and virtual learning, specifically informing online pedagogy and furthering the body of knowledge in the field of education. We hope to initiate a Birds of a Feather discussion where educators can share their experiences with online practicum strategies that are beneficial for all in attendance.

No presider for this session.

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