Enhancing Pre-Service Special Educator Preparation through Combined Use of Virtual Simulation and Instructional Coaching

Maria Peterson-Ahmad

doi:10.3390/educsci8010010

Abstract

To meet the ever-increasing teaching standards, pre-service special educators need extensive and advanced opportunities for pedagogical preparation prior to entering the classroom. Providing opportunities for pre-service special educators to practice such strategies within a virtual simulation environment offers teacher preparation programs a way to individualize the teaching and practice of various pedagogical aspects needed when new educators enter their first classroom. Coupling such simulations with specific instructional coaching allows for increased and individualized remediation of the way instruction is given, classroom management practices, or getting to know your student population. This exploratory case study investigated the extent to which virtual simulations combined with instructional coaching impacted the way pre-service educators learned how to provide opportunities to respond (OTR) to the avatar students through the repeated teaching of a lesson over four sessions.

Highlights

IntroductionTeacher preparation programs are challenged with training high-quality educators’ who can work effectively with all students (with and without disabilities) and simultaneously raise student achievement [1]
Teacher preparation programs are challenged with training high-quality educators’ who can work effectively with all students and simultaneously raise student achievement [1]
Research supports the use of multimedia that allows pre-service educators a combination of learning in content knowledge, teaching pedagogy, and problem-solving skills [8,9]

Summary

Introduction

Teacher preparation programs are challenged with training high-quality educators’ who can work effectively with all students (with and without disabilities) and simultaneously raise student achievement [1]. Knowledge and instructional experiences so that the delivery and differentiation of instruction broadens and enhances teaching skills for students with and without a disability [2,3,4]. Research supports the use of multimedia (such as a virtual simulation) that allows pre-service educators a combination of learning in content knowledge, teaching pedagogy, and problem-solving skills [8,9]. Virtual simulations provide the opportunity to supplement course content and field-based experiences by allowing practice and refinement of instructional strategies in a low risk environment, including (but not limited to): teaching of subject area content; data collection; individualizing and differentiating learning opportunities; classroom management

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion