What if teacher candidates had the opportunity to practice research-based instructional strategies and the application of critical skills without fear of failure or harm to students? Would you be interested? One of the biggest challenges that teacher preparation programs face is a struggle to provide meaningful and realistic practice for pre-service teacher candidates. How do we provide practice in “real” settings with “real” students who demonstrate a depth and breadth of learning and behavioral challenges? How do we make practice sessions safe environments for both our teacher candidates and the students they serve? How do we provide needed experiences for candidates in a world where in-person learning may be curtailed by unforeseen circumstances? The purpose of this chapter is to examine the use of virtual reality simulations in education that provide scaffolded learning experiences for pre-service teachers in an online learning environment.
This chapter reviews some of the essential ingredients in creating a post-secondary online learning environment that is diverse, inclusive, and promotes connection and engagement across the program lifecycle. Various initiatives to build student engagement and connection are discussed. The authors also argue that while most of the attention on engagement in the educational setting focuses on student engagement, equal consideration must be given to faculty and staff engagement to create the optimal environment.
In this chapter, the authors share core principles and essential questions for evaluating the inclusivity of the online classroom curriculum and design. The nine core principles are building upon students' individual strengths and assets; exploring, affirming, and embracing diverse voices and students' identities; valuing each student lived experience; empowering positive social change agents; ensuring multiple means of expression; providing meaningful opportunities for feedback for growth; exploring course concepts through the lens of historically marginalized individuals and groups; ensuring designs are not systemically biased; and empowering appropriate responses and feedback to perceived inequities. Theoretical support and curriculum design strategies are provided for each of the principles.
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