Abstract
This chapter describes a participatory action research project that leverages partnerships to implement virtual instructional rounds (VIRs) to engage preservice teachers in collaborative mutual learning via internet-based video platforms. Preservice teachers observe and reflect on specific skills related to anti-bias practices for diverse student populations and then apply these practices to their own inclusive learning environments. Data were collected through structured observations, surveys, and focus group interviews. Findings indicate a mutually beneficial learning experience between preservice teachers and statistically significant data supporting implementation of anti-bias education and other pedagogical practices. This study can serve as a model for other teacher preparation programs seeking to use collaborative technologies to experience reciprocal learning.
TopIntroduction
In today’s world, technology plays a pivotal role in the lives of youth. Educators are required to be digitally literate in information, media, and technology skills (IMTS) to effectively navigate this environment (Krueger, 2017; Truesdell & Birch, 2013). To address this need, the department of education in a small liberal arts university in Northern California has placed educational technology as an integral component of the students’ studies during the teacher credential program. The program recognized the need for teaching digital literacy, leading faculty to develop instructional technology courses, Using Technology in the Classroom and Applied Instructional Technology, which bookend all teacher credential programs.
Standards in the instructional technology courses identify the need to better prepare students for a diverse society with a focus on inclusive learning environments (Claeys-Kulik, et al., 2019). The focus is on utilizing a range of instructional technologies to create and maintain effective environments for student learning. Preservice teachers gain skills to become global citizens who act within diverse contexts. They practice ethical reasoning, leadership and collaboration, commitment to sustainability and social justice, and intercultural understanding and respect for difference. The intent is to simultaneously integrate tenets of social justice standards and anti-bias education with IMTS.
Given the rapid changes occurring to the field of education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers recognized the opportunity to explore wider partnerships beyond local school districts. By leveraging video platforms such as Zoom, Flipgrid and SWITCHtube, researchers contacted a partner university in Northern Switzerland and forged a partnership with their teacher education department. The university, founded in 2006, has a focus on applied sciences and the arts, with multiple programs in teacher education. A previous student exchange program existed between the universities, which aided in forging a new partnership for this pilot study.
The partnership consisted of Virtual Instructional Rounds (VIRs), which are structured observations of instruction followed by feedback in the form of comments on online video platforms. Researchers collected data to investigate perceived levels of reciprocal learning and the degree to which social justice standards and anti-bias practices were taught. Specifically, research questions included: “How and to what extent does the implementation of Virtual Instructional Rounds incorporate anti-bias practices for diverse student populations (i.e. race, ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status, ability, and gender)?” and “To what degree do Virtual Instructional Rounds promote reciprocal learning between teacher preparation programs?” In this mixed method participatory action research project, data were collected in the form of structured observations of video clips, quantitative and qualitative surveys, and focus group interviews. Findings indicate that while anti-bias practices were observed, reciprocal learning didn’t occur often between the two programs, but more within their own. These results will help shape future directions for the study, as described in the conclusion.
The goal of this chapter is to describe how a teacher preparation program shifted from face to face instruction in the technology classes to completely online, distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, it will detail the implementation of a pilot study using Virtual Instructional Rounds with an international partner to enhance reciprocal learning amongst preservice teachers both locally and globally. The chapter will discuss how leveraging VIRs offered participants the opportunity to reflect upon anti-bias practices both in the university classroom and the K-12 classes that teachers observed. Additionally, this project uncovers the ongoing need for remote and online pedagogy across all credential programs as the “new normal” in education. While the emergency of COVID-19 may have passed, teachers and teacher education programs must rethink traditional modes of instruction (Rapanta, Botturi, Goodyear, et al., 2021).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Instructional Technology: The use of technology that creates resources to enhance learning in the classroom.
Preservice Teachers: Teacher candidates that are student teachers enrolled in a teacher education program and working toward a teacher certification.
Instructional Rounds: Structured observations of instruction followed by feedback in the form of comments on an online video platform.
Anti-Bias Education: An approach to teaching and learning that recognizes differences, fosters respect, and challenges biases in schools and communities.
Teacher Education: Program that prepares prospective teachers with required skills and knowledge to enable them to become classroom teachers.
Reciprocal Learning: A mutually beneficial process of learning in which the teacher is the learner, and the learner is the teacher.
Online Learning: Education that takes place over the Internet.
Social Justice: A deliberate teaching and learning process that promotes social action against systems of power and privilege.