Reflection in alignment to professional standards: What did the student teachers highlight?

This study investigates the professional development of elementary student teachers in a teacher education program. Student teaching is a process for pre-service teachers to apply learning in an authentic school context, and one critical aspect of professional development is through reflection. The participants were primarily examined through their weekly reflections on teaching and learning experiences over an eight-week period. Using the state Standards for the Teaching Profession as a framework, the student teachers chose to reflect on topics they were most interested in exploring. Results indicated that the participants gave predominant attention to classroom management; the standards that received the least reflection were organizing curriculum and planning instruction. Analysis of the reflection journals also revealed how the student teachers grew as individuals and in interaction with others in a learning community. Based on the results, implications for teacher education are proposed. Limitations are also discussed.

Changes in pre-service teacher self-efficacy for teaching in relation to professional experience placements

This article aims to contribute new, longitudinal evidence on teacher self-efficacy (TSE) by investigating changes in TSE over the last 2 years of an Australian initial teacher education program. Two hundred and one pre-service teachers were surveyed at three timepoints: (1) after the first professional experience placement, (2) before and (3) after the final placement, using the Scale for Teacher Self-Efficacy. Data were analysed using multilevel modelling. TSE for the domains of classroom management and student engagement decreased significantly between the first and before the commencement of the last professional experience placements. All three dimensions of TSE – instructional strategies, student engagement and classroom management – increased significantly during the final placement.

Preservice Teachers Consider Game-Based Teaching and Learning

Gaming has become a core activity with children and more teachers are using games for teaching content than they did five years ago. Yet, teachers report that they learn about game titles, impact studies, and facilitation techniques through their own initiatives or from other teachers rather than from their teacher education program. This chapter reports on a combined curricular strategy built on game strategy research that asked teacher candidates (n= 125) to discuss news headlines about games, play educational games, review games, and game research, teach others how to play educational games, and construct games. Findings reveal that candidates saw value in using games in K-12 to teach content, were able to develop assessments based on game content at a novice level, and were able to construct games either alone or in small groups. Educators contemplating gaming as an instructional strategy may be interested in the espoused combination strategy to encourage game adoption in K-12 settings.

E-Portfolios and Practicum in Teacher Education

The Teacher Education Program at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) implemented three initiatives in 2018 to improve the practicum experience for teacher candidates. One of these initiatives was to extend the use of e-Portfolios into final practicum. E-Portfolios are first developed by teacher candidates in EDUC 431, the Education Technology course, but they were asked to continue its use in the following term during final practicum. The extended use of e-Portfolios served as one response in the teacher education program to BC’s Curriculum (2021) and changes in the K-12 system, which in turn modelled several aspects of BC’s Curriculum such as personalization, Core Competencies, formative assessment, and the First Peoples Principles of Learning. Including final practicum as part of the e-Portfolio, teacher candidates were able to deepen their understanding of the Professional Standards for BC Educators (2019), reflect on their teaching experience, and conclude the program with a presentation at the Celebration of Learning. Teacher candidates were able to maintain an e-Portfolio during final practicum, identify additional artefacts to demonstrate their understanding of the professional standards, and create a digital narrative describing who they are as educators.

E-Portfolios and Exploring One’s Identity in Teacher Education

Academic faculty in a two-year post-baccalaureate teacher education program at a small research university in British Columbia explored the extended use of e-Portfolios into final practicum over a three-year period. The education technology course offered in Term Three asked teacher candidates to create and design an e-Portfolio as part of the coursework. In this program evaluation, the author investigated the continued use of e-Portfolios into Term Four during final practicum. Faculty in this teacher education program sought ways to improve the program, particularly the practicum experience for teacher candidates. Extending the use of e-Portfolios into Term Four was one of three initiatives that were adopted. The e-Portfolio served as a digital platform for teachercandidates to archive, reflect, and sense-make; italso functioned as a means to develop theirprofessional identities and understanding of theprofessional standards. The final practicumconcluded with a Celebration of Learning and thecapstone presentations referenced e-Portfolios.This paper focuses on how e-Portfolios wereintroduced and implemented with six cohorts, whatwas observed by the faculty member, and whatwas learned from the implementation to inform thefuture use of e-Portfolios in the program andprogram redesign. The extended use of e-Portfolios during the final practicum was found tobe a viable initiative and revealed professionalqualities of teacher candidates that may not havebeen visible otherwise.

Finally in the spotlight: How contemporary learning theory is saving education online during COVID

A surge of literature documenting myriad challenges being faced online during the COVID pandemic strongly suggests that e-learning scholarship has fallen short of conveying an understanding of how to build highly effective e-learning spaces. Recent stories from practitioners abound with reports of absenteeism, cameras and microphones turned off, inaction in forums and a general reticence on the part of learners to engage online. Where have we missed the mark in our efforts to have contemporary e-learning theory affect online practice? Scholarship is indicating that the root of the disconnect often lies in the conventional instructional designs being used in these spaces and the teaching, learning and assessment practices they support. In response to such issues, we conducted a qualitative action research initiative to apply an instructional design (ID) model, based on contemporary learning theories and goals, in a teacher education program in Chile. The study took place in 2020 over 2 academic semesters. In this study, we focussed on the impact of these changes on a small group of first-year Pre-service Teachers (PSTs, n=17), experiencing online learning for the first time. Pre and post interviews, an open-ended questionnaire, field notes from self-assessment portfolios and observations of the digital environment were used to collect data. We also draw on two other data sources in the same context: 1) an earlier report of this initiative that focussed on the Teacher Educators (TEs) in the same program (n=4), and 2) survey data collected in a preparatory stage of the action research on the experiences of the greater university student body (n=1,054). Evidence revealed that initially learners’ epistemological views were heavily influenced by the teacher-centric and content-driven pedagogies of earlier schooling. Yet, results also showed that the contemporary learning design framework had positive implications for many students’ social, cognitive, and metacognitive competencies. Clear signs of more active investment in social interactive learning online on the part of the PSTs and of flexible, self-directed behaviours were evidenced. The results of this study provide an empirically based practical solution for connecting current learning theory to practice in online contexts, solutions that could endure even once the challenges of the pandemic crisis are behind us.

The Effectiveness of In-Person versus Online Instruction in the Pre-service Teacher Preparation Programme

In reference to the reflective nature of the methodological design of the current pre-service English teacher education program at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, considerable challenges related to teacher-education were noted during the emergency online switch. For this reason, the theory/practice connections, typically strengthened via the practical, experiential and reflective components of university teacher-education programs, were put to the test. The research is aimed at identifying the challenges of the online switch and focuses on comparison of the effectiveness of in-person versus online instruction in the pre-service English teacher preparation program. The research questions seek to examine whether teacher-training sessions online are more demanding and challenging, and potentially less effective (as perceived by the respondents), compared to the in-person teacher-training practices. The study results offer a valuable insight into the teacher-trainees’ perceptions of the challenges and effectiveness of the online English teacher-training course implementation in comparison with the in-person mode.

Multiple Stakeholder Interaction to Enhance Preservice Teachers’ Language Assessment Literacy

Conducted in a U.S. English-to-Speakers-of-Other-Languages (ESOL) preservice teacher education program, this case study aimed to explore a dynamic process of preservice teachers’ development of language assessment literacy (LAL). By inviting multiple stakeholders, namely preservice teachers, an inservice teacher and her ESOL students, and their course instructor, this study closely examined the interaction among the stakeholders during a semester-long language assessment development project as a process to develop LAL. The project, which was composed of planning, development, implementation, and reflection stages, was innovative in that it: (a) involved the multiple stakeholders; (b) focused on their dynamic interactions and multi-directional influences on all the participants’ enhancement of LAL; and (c) was conducted in an online format. By employing thematic analyses on interactions among the stakeholders, this study described and analyzed how preservice teachers contextualize their assessment while negotiating the needs of the inservice teachers and their students with assistance from the course instructor. The paper identified practical benefits and challenges of professional training where multiple stakeholders are involved. It also highlighted the non-linear dynamic process of preservice teachers’ development of LAL.

Preparing Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teachers: Developing an Equity-Oriented Teacher Education Curriculum

As classrooms worldwide are becoming increasingly diverse, teacher education programs need to develop an equity-oriented curriculum, integrating domains of knowledge that prepare all classroom teachers to support the academic content and language learning of immigrant students. The first step of such an effort is to systematically examine the existing curriculum for its strengths and gaps. Using the conceptualizations of culturally and linguistically responsive teachers as an analytical tool, the study critically examined 31 out of 110 course readings required by five teaching methods courses of a US nationally ranked elementary teacher education program. The findings reveal an overall restricted focus on issues of supporting bilingual students and a discrepancy among topics addressed in different subject areas. The study calls for problematizing the “just good teaching” mindset, dismantling the deficit and monolithic portrayal of bilingual communities, acknowledging the complexity of teaching bilingual learners, and striving for conceptual coherence in curriculum reconstruction.

An Equity Perspective on Chinese (csol) Teacher Preparation for Global Contexts: Domestic and International Preservice Teachers’ Experiences

Using a three-dimensional framework that sees equity as distributed justice, inclusion, and rightful presence, this study examines the perspectives of 60 (40 domestic and 20 international) pre-service csol teachers’ experiences of preparation for teaching in diverse local and global contexts in a major teacher education program in China. Thematic analyses of semi-structured interview data revealed the exclusive Chinese linguistics focus of the program excluded both domestic and international preservice teachers’ needs to learn to teach in csol and through csol. The attention to traditional Chinese cultural knowledge also failed to legitimize “the rightful presence” of international students or prepare the teachers with intercultural competence. Finally, the lack of attention to the theory-practice connection in core competencies preparation had resulted in distributed injustice and a shared sense of under-preparedness for both groups. Findings inform an equity-centered Tcsol teacher education for global contexts.