VirtualPREX: Providing Virtual Professional Experience for Pre-Service Teachers
Professional experience (or practicum) is problematic within teacher education courses because preparation for, and the quality of, placements can be inconsistent. Preservice teachers can commence their first placement without some of the requisite skills and off-campus pre-service teachers do not always have opportunities to practise any ski lls at all pre-placement. VirtualPREX is an innovative approach to professional experience preparation, providing opportunities for practice in a virtual world such as Second Life . In this chapter the authors outline the rationale for this innovation and then report on the data from the pilot trials of the VirtualPREX role plays where pre-service teachers role-played the teacher and students in a Second Life virtual classroom. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the next steps in the project.
VirtualPREX: Developing Teaching Skills in 'Second Life'
Virtual worlds are accepted as alternative learning environments and have been incorporated into the repertoire of higher education teaching and learning strategies for more than a decade. Numerous reports exist regarding the efficacy of this form of learning for both student engagement and enhanced student outcomes. The immersive affordances of these worlds are also being used to enhance another aspect of many higher education courses; work integrated learning. This form of learning, also referred to as practicum, placement, practice teaching and professional experience, is a core component of teacher education courses. Research has highlighted quality preparation for practice teaching (or lack thereof) as problematic, necessitating new approaches to teacher preparation. The active experiential learning affordances of virtual world technologies have led to the development of 3D virtual classrooms and a playground designed to be effective spaces for developing a range of critical teaching skills. Pre-service teachers have opportunities, through interaction in and with the virtual environment, to practise skills and apply concepts in a realistic setting that is risk free. In this chapter, the authors discuss the problems of preparation for practice teaching and the ways in which the virtual world of 'Second Life' is being utilised as a site for enhanced teacher preparation
VirtualPREX: Innovative assessment using a 3D virtual world with pre-service teachers - Final Report 2013
The higher education community has embraced the use of virtual worlds for teaching and learning. There have been many publications produced over recent years on the efficacy of virtual worlds as a teaching and learning tool. However, even though there has been increased usage, there has not been comprehensive research on using a virtual world to practise teaching in a way that is simple to use and provides a variety of scenarios for use by educators in a risk-free environment. VirtualPREX, the term coined for this project, provides this. The VirtualPREX project, part of an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) two year project grant, explored the validity of pre-service teachers using a virtual world to practise teaching skills prior to undertaking professional experience. Second Life was the virtual world chosen for this research as it is a tested environment and three of the participating institutions jointly owned land that could house the VirtualPREX classrooms. Additionally, a number of the project team were familiar with the Second Life environment. A classroom and playground theme had already been created, making it an ideal platform for the creation of more VirtualPREX classrooms. ... This report draws on research conducted by project team members from UNE, CSU, Curtin, RMIT and ACU over the two years from 2011 to 2012. Data was collected from surveys, observations and discussions. The research sought to examine the virtual world space created for the VirtualPREX project for pre-service teachers to undertake practice teaching and assessable tasks. The aim was to develop the space, the role-play scenarios and bots for teaching in an authentic setting to be used worldwide upon completion. The study set out to provide the higher education community with guidelines and recommendations to encourage the use of the virtual world classrooms and assessable tasks with pre-service teachers.
Branching Out through VirtualPREX: Enhancing Teaching in Second Life
Virtual worlds have been incorporated into the repertoire of higher education teaching and learning for over a decade with numerous reports on the efficacy of this form of learning for both student engagement and enhanced student outcomes. The affordances of these worlds are being used to enhance another aspect of many higher education courses; work integrated learning. In teacher education courses, practice teaching is a core component. However, research has highlighted quality preparation for practice teaching as problematic. This is a particular challenge for distance education students necessitating new approaches to teacher preparation. Virtual world technologies have provided the authors with a capacity to develop 3D virtual classroom and playground environments. These are currently being tested as effective spaces for developing a range of critical teaching skills prior to pre-service teachers entering a physical classroom. These students have opportunities, through interaction in and with the virtual environment, to practise skills and apply concepts in a risk-free realistic setting. In this chapter, the authors discuss the problems of preparation for practice teaching and the ways in which the virtual world of Second Life is currently being tested as a site for enhanced teacher preparation. The results of the first trials are described and the future of the project explored.
Designing and recording machinima to illustrate professional practice scenarios
Immersive virtual worlds, such as 'Second Life', have attracted widespread interest in recent years as platforms for online role-plays of professional practice scenarios. An alternative application of virtual worlds is the video recording of in-world role-play activities, "machinima", for later use as stimuli for class discussions or individual reflective activities. The scripting and recording of machinima to illustrate particular practice scenarios is seen as an alternative to recording video in authentic practice contexts, potentially addressing some of the inherent ethical and logistic issues. This paper describes the process used to design, record and produce machinima illustrating a series of classic classroom teaching practice scenarios as part of the Office for Learning and Teaching VirtualPREX project.
Changing directions through VirtualPREX: engaging pre-service teachers in virtual professional experience
Many pre-service teachers currently undertake their professional experience with insufficient knowledge and confidence to handle unexpected teaching situations. VirtualPREX explores the experiences of 72 pre-service teachers who undertook a teaching role-play in a virtual world. The researchers discuss this opportunity for pre-service teachers to utilise new methods and avenues in a virtual world to both supplement their learning and undertake preparation for practical experience. Participation by pre-service teachers in role-play enables them to test and develop a better range of professional skills and acquire confidence in, and more realistic awareness of, their skills before being placed in real-life classrooms. Presented in this paper are the findings from a pilot of this study and pre-service teacher reactions to the role-play activity including whether they felt that it was helpful in preparing them for their upcoming professional experience placement.