Share Paper: Expanding Understanding of Diversity through Practical, Personalized, and Place-Based Online Teacher Education

  1. Spencer Clark, Kansas State University, United States
  2. Lotta Larson, Kansas State University, United States
  3. Eileen Wertzberger, Kansas State University, United States
  4. Tom Vontz, Kansas State University, United States

Abstract: The Kansas State University (KSU) Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree was developed in response to issues currently affecting schools across Kansas, and particularly in rural areas. The issues facing Kansas schools are reflective of the issues facing rural schools nationally: teacher recruitment, teacher retention, and teachers in high-needs areas. Due to the geographical challenges of many prospective students, we developed the MAT program as a purely online pathway to teacher licensure. The online nature of the MAT degree required faculty to rethink the most effective ways to provide engaging pedagogy and supervision in a condensed, one-year, teacher education ...