Improving self-efficacy in the teaching of prospective mathematics teachers by involving them in the online teacher community

Abstract

Self-efficacy in teaching is very important for prospective teachers. Prospective teachers who have good self-efficacy inteaching can carry out the profession as a teacher well in the future. This study aims to improve the self-efficacy in teaching of prospective mathematics teachers by involving them in the online teacher community. A total of 58 prospective mathematics teachers were included as samples. They were divided into two groups. The experimental group attended micro teaching courses while involved in the online teacher community, on the other hand the control group attended a micro teaching course while assisting the model teacher. Self-efficacy in teaching was measured by a questionnaire at the beginning of the semester as a pre-test and at the end of the semester as a post-test. The results showed that prospective mathematics teacher who took micro teaching courses while involved in the online teacher community experienced a higher increase in self-efficacy compared to those who attended micro teaching courses while assisting the model teacher. These results indicate that the association of prospective mathematics teachers in the online teacher community has a positive effect on increasing their self-efficacy in teaching. In-depth interviews indicate that a combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication plays a role in increasing their self-efficacy. Computer-mediated communication that is context-free and not too bound by social conventions greatly helps increase the self-efficacy of prospective teachers.